@article{HerdeEccard2013,
  author    = {Herde, Antje and Eccard, Jana},
  title     = {Consistency in boldness, activity and exploration at different stages of life},
  series = {BMC ecology},
  volume    = {13},
  journal   = {BMC ecology},
  number    = {12},
  publisher = {BioMed Central},
  address   = {London},
  issn      = {1472-6785},
  doi       = {10.1186/1472-6785-13-49},
  pages     = {10},
  year      = {2013},
  abstract  = {Background: Animals show consistent individual behavioural patterns over time and over situations. This phenomenon has been referred to as animal personality or behavioural syndromes. Little is known about consistency of animal personalities over entire life times. We investigated the repeatability of behaviour in common voles (Microtus arvalis) at different life stages, with different time intervals, and in different situations. Animals were tested using four behavioural tests in three experimental groups: 1. before and after maturation over three months, 2. twice as adults during one week, and 3. twice as adult animals over three months, which resembles a substantial part of their entire adult life span of several months. Results: Different behaviours were correlated within and between tests and a cluster analysis showed three possible behavioural syndrome-axes, which we name boldness, exploration and activity. Activity and exploration behaviour in all tests was highly repeatable in adult animals tested over one week. In animals tested over maturation, exploration behaviour was consistent whereas activity was not. Voles that were tested as adults with a three-month interval showed the opposite pattern with stable activity but unstable exploration behaviour. Conclusions: The consistency in behaviour over time suggests that common voles do express stable personality over short time. Over longer periods however, behaviour is more flexible and depending on life stage (i.e. tested before/after maturation or as adults) of the tested individual. Level of boldness or activity does not differ between tested groups and maintenance of variation in behavioural traits can therefore not be explained by expected future assets as reported in other studies.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{SchusterHerdeMazzonietal.2016,
  author    = {Schuster, Andrea C. and Herde, Antje and Mazzoni, Camila J. and Eccard, Jana and Sommer, Simone},
  title     = {Evidence for selection maintaining MHC diversity in a rodent species despite strong density fluctuations},
  series = {Immunogenetics},
  volume    = {68},
  journal   = {Immunogenetics},
  publisher = {Springer},
  address   = {New York},
  issn      = {0093-7711},
  doi       = {10.1007/s00251-016-0916-z},
  pages     = {429 -- 437},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {Strong spatiotemporal variation in population size often leads to reduced genetic diversity limiting the adaptive potential of individual populations. Key genes of adaptive variation are encoded by the immune genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) playing an essential role in parasite resistance. How MHC variation persists in rodent populations that regularly experience population bottlenecks remains an important topic in evolutionary genetics. We analysed the consequences of strong population fluctuations on MHC class II DRB exon 2 diversity in two distant common vole (Microtus arvalis) populations in three consecutive years using a high-throughput sequencing approach. In 143 individuals, we detected 25 nucleotide alleles translating into 14 unique amino acid MHC alleles belonging to at least three loci. Thus, the overall allelic diversity and amino acid distance among the remaining MHC alleles, used as a surrogate for the range of pathogenic antigens that can be presented to T-cells, are still remarkably high. Both study populations did not show significant population differentiation between years, but significant differences were found between sites. We concluded that selection processes seem to be strong enough to maintain moderate levels of MHC diversity in our study populations outcompeting genetic drift, as the same MHC alleles were conserved between years. Differences in allele frequencies between populations might be the outcome of different local parasite pressures and/or genetic drift. Further understanding of how pathogens vary across space and time will be crucial to further elucidate the mechanisms maintaining MHC diversity in cyclic populations.},
  language  = {en}
}