Exploration profiles drive activity patterns and temporal niche specialization in a wild rodent

Gharnit, Elouana; Bergeron, Patrick; Garant, Dany; Réale, Denis

doi:10.1093/beheco/araa022

Cited by 27 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 109 publications

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“…[119][120][121][122] ) and yield biologically meaningful measures of what is intended to measure (e.g. 36,60,61,123 ). Albeit a test developed for one species/taxon is not necessarily appropriate as a test for another (e.g.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…44,45,124 ) the open-field test is a classical test for rodents and behaviours measured in this test have been ecologically validated in many species (e.g. 123 ), including the taxon of this study 61 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In their natural environment, small mammals that scored high in the open field test were also the ones that had significantly larger exploratory home ranges, moved greater daily distances, occupied larger home ranges and were more active (e.g. 60,61,123 ). Also, small mammals' higher activity levels in the open field correlate with information acquisition and use (e.g.…”

Section: Capturementioning

confidence: 99%

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Of city and village mice: behavioural adjustments of striped field mice to urban environments

Dammhahn

Mazza

Schirmer

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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A fundamental question of current ecological research concerns the drives and limits of species responses to human-induced rapid environmental change (HIREC). Behavioural responses to HIREC are a key component because behaviour links individual responses to population and community changes. Ongoing fast urbanization provides an ideal setting to test the functional role of behaviour for responses to HIREC. Consistent behavioural differences between conspecifics (animal personality) may be important determinants or constraints of animals' adaptation to urban habitats. We tested whether urban and rural populations of small mammals differ in mean trait expression, flexibility and repeatability of behaviours associated to risk-taking and exploratory tendencies. Using a standardized behavioural test in the field, we quantified spatial exploration and boldness of striped field mice (Apodemus agrarius, n = 96) from nine sub-populations, presenting different levels of urbanisation and anthropogenic disturbance. The level of urbanisation positively correlated with boldness, spatial exploration and behavioural flexibility, with urban dwellers being bolder, more explorative and more flexible in some traits than rural conspecifics. Thus, individuals seem to distribute in a non-random way in response to human disturbance based on their behavioural characteristics. Animal personality might therefore play a key role in successful coping with the challenges of HIREC. Urbanisation is one of the fastest-occurring and most widespread human-induced environmental changes (e.g. 1,2). As urban environments expand more and more across the globe, wildlife must either adjust to rapid changes and human-modified landscapes, or experience severe declines and, ultimately, local extinction (e.g. 2,3). The urban environment presents wildlife with novel challenges, including an altered biotic environment with anthropogenic disturbances, modified competitive interactions, new predators and parasites, as well as altered abiotic factors such as water, soil, light and air pollution, noise, soil sealing, fragmentation and traffic (e.g. 2,4,5). As a result of these human-induced rapid environmental changes (HIREC 5), ecosystems are experiencing sharp declines in biodiversity worldwide (e.g. 1,2). A few species, however, are thriving and occur in high numbers in urban environments. A fundamental focus of current ecological and evolutionary research is to illuminate the drivers of the success of some animals in an urbanised world 3,6,7 because these "urban laboratories" might advance our understanding of fundamental eco-evolutionary processes and key theoretical concepts, including niche construction and community assembly as well as the role humans play in eco-evolutionary dynamics 8. The ability of an animal to adjust to novel challenges is likely to contribute to its ultimate success in urban environments (e.g. 3-5,9). Behavioural adaptations are expected to play a major role in coping with HIREC because behaviour largely determines how individuals in...

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Capturementioning

confidence: 99%

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Of city and village mice: behavioural adjustments of striped field mice to urban environments

Dammhahn

Mazza

Schirmer

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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“…To account for variability in the behaviour measurements of each individual we calculated the individual's best linear unbiased predictor (BLUP) for each of the behaviour variables, after controlling for sex, body size, forestry treatment, trapping session and year as fixed effects and individual identity (ID) as random effect (as done for the repeatability analyses, electronic supplementary material, appendix S1 and table S2). We adopted the approach followed by [40][41][42] to minimize the risk of transferring BLUP errors into the functional diversity analyses [43,44]. We used the sim function in package arm [45] to simulate 1000 series of individual BLUPs and then used the mean as the behaviour score for each individual [40][41][42].…”

Section: (E) Data Analysis (I) Personalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental heterogeneity and population density affect the functional diversity of personality traits in small mammal populations

Mortelliti

Brehm

2020

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Understanding factors affecting the functional diversity of ecological communities is an important goal for ecologists and conservationists. Previous work has largely been conducted at the community level; however, recent studies have highlighted the critical importance of considering intraspecific functional diversity (i.e. the functional diversity of phenotypic traits among conspecifics). Further, a major limitation of existing literature on this topic is the lack of empirical studies examining functional diversity of behavioural phenotypes —including animal personalities. This is a major shortcoming because personality traits can affect the fitness of individuals, and the composition of personalities in a population can have important ecological consequences. Our study aims to contribute to filling this knowledge gap by investigating factors affecting the functional diversity of personality traits in wild animal populations. Specifically, we predicted that the richness, divergence and evenness associated with personality traits would be impacted by key components of forest structure and would vary between contrasting forest types. To achieve our objective we conducted a fully replicated large-scale field experiment over a 4 year period using small mammal populations as a model system. We found that greater heterogeneity in the cover of shrubs, coarse woody debris and canopy cover was associated with a greater richness, lower divergence and lower evenness in personality traits. Greater population density was associated with greater functional richness and lower functional divergence and evenness of personality traits. To maintain a behaviourally diverse population and its associated functions, managers may promote heterogeneity in vegetation and increased population density, which we found to be the most important determinants driving functional diversity of personality traits.

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“…In general, bolder individuals tend to be more active, feed more often and in risky areas as they are more likely to explore and move away from safe and well-known locations [ 22 ]. This temperament, however, leads to an increased risk of encountering predators [ 23 ] and exposing themselves to parasites [ 24 ], decreasing their survival rate. On the other hand, shy individuals engage in an opposite strategy giving primary importance to survival over reproductive productivity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temperament and sexual behaviour in the Furrowed Wood Turtle Rhinoclemmys areolata

et al. 2020

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The variation in temperament among animals has consequences for evolution and ecology. One of the primary effects of consistent behavioral differences is on reproduction. In chelonians some authors have focused on the study of temperament using different methods. In our research our first aim was i) establish a methodology to determine the degree of boldness among individuals Rhinoclemmys areolata. Our second aim was to ii) determine the role boldness plays during reproduction, with emphasis on courtship and copulation, considering a) the interactions between males and females, and b) competition between males. We used 16 sexually mature individuals of each sex. Males were observed in four different situations and 17 behavioral traits were recorded. We selected 12 traits that allowed us distinguish between the bolder and the shier individuals and found that five behavioral traits were specific for bolder individuals and five others for shier individuals. In a second step, we observed a male in presence of a female and recorded courtship behaviors and breeding attempts. Bolder individuals did not display courtship behaviors and just attempted to copulate. Shier individuals displayed courtship behaviors and copulation attempts were rarely observed. Finally, in the simulations that compared two males in the presence of a female we noticed that bolder individuals displayed courtship behaviors while the shier ones simply ignored the female. Our results first allowed us to determine which methodology is the best to determine temperament in turtles. Secondly, temperament seems to be an important factor in modulating interaction between males and females. Bolder individuals have an advantage during competition and display courtship behaviours only if other males are present. Shier males displayed courtship behaviors and only try to copulate when no competitors were present. These two different temperament-dependant strategies are discussed in terms of ecology, evolution and management.

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Exploration profiles drive activity patterns and temporal niche specialization in a wild rodent

Cited by 27 publications

References 109 publications

Of city and village mice: behavioural adjustments of striped field mice to urban environments

Of city and village mice: behavioural adjustments of striped field mice to urban environments

Environmental heterogeneity and population density affect the functional diversity of personality traits in small mammal populations

Temperament and sexual behaviour in the Furrowed Wood Turtle Rhinoclemmys areolata

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