TY - JOUR A1 - Dammhahn, Melanie A1 - Lange, Pauline A1 - Eccard, Jana T1 - The landscape of fear has individual layers BT - an experimental test of among-individual differences in perceived predation risk during foraging JF - Oikos N2 - Perceived predation risk varies in space and time creating a landscape of fear. This key feature of an animal's environment is classically studied as a species-specific property. However, individuals differ in how they solve the tradeoff between safety and reward and may, hence, differ consistently and predictively in perceived predation risk across landscapes. To test this hypothesis, we quantified among-individual differences in boldness and activity and exposed behaviourally phenotyped male bank voles Myodes glareolus individually to two different experimental landscapes of risks in large outdoor enclosures and provided resources as discrete food patches. We manipulated perceived predation risk via vegetation height between 2 and > 30 cm and quantified patch use indirectly via RFID-logging and giving-up densities. We statistically disentangled among-individual differences in microhabitat use from spatially varying perceived risk, i.e. landscape of fear. We found that individuals varied in mean vegetation height of their foraging microhabitats and that this microhabitat selection matched the intrinsic individual differences in perceived risk. As predicted by the patch use model, all individual's perceived higher risks when foraging in lower vegetation. However, individuals differed in their reaction norm slopes of perceived risk to vegetation height, and these differences in slopes were consistent across two different landscapes of risks and resources. We interpret these results as evidence for individual landscapes of fear, which could be predicted by among-individual differences in activity and boldness. Since perceived predation risk affects when and where to forage, among-individual differences in fear responses could act as a mode of intraspecific niche complementarity (i.e. individual niche specialization), help explain behavioural type by environment correlations, and will likely have cascading indirect effects on lower trophic levels. KW - activity KW - behavioural reaction norm KW - giving-up density KW - patch use; KW - optimal foraging KW - personality KW - risk allocation KW - rodents Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.09124 SN - 0030-1299 SN - 1600-0706 VL - 2022 IS - 6 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kowalski, Gabriele Joanna A1 - Grimm, Volker A1 - Herde, Antje A1 - Guenther, Anja A1 - Eccard, Jana T1 - Does Animal Personality Affect Movement in Habitat Corridors? BT - Experiments with Common Voles (Microtus arvalis) Using Different Corridor Widths JF - Animals N2 - Animal personality may affect an animal’s mobility in a given landscape, influencing its propensity to take risks in an unknown environment. We investigated the mobility of translocated common voles in two corridor systems 60 m in length and differing in width (1 m and 3 m). Voles were behaviorally phenotyped in repeated open field and barrier tests. Observed behavioral traits were highly repeatable and described by a continuous personality score. Subsequently, animals were tracked via an automated very high frequency (VHF) telemetry radio tracking system to monitor their movement patterns in the corridor system. Although personality did not explain movement patterns, corridor width determined the amount of time spent in the habitat corridor. Voles in the narrow corridor system entered the corridor faster and spent less time in the corridor than animals in the wide corridor. Thus, landscape features seem to affect movement patterns more strongly than personality. Meanwhile, site characteristics, such as corridor width, could prove to be highly important when designing corridors for conservation, with narrow corridors facilitating faster movement through landscapes than wider corridors. KW - activity KW - animal personality KW - wildlife corridors KW - habitat connectivity KW - individual differences KW - rodents Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/ani9060291 SN - 2076-2615 VL - 9 IS - 6 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mazza, Valeria A1 - Czyperreck, Inken A1 - Eccard, Jana A1 - Dammhahn, Melanie T1 - Cross-Context Responses to Novelty in Rural and Urban Small Mammals JF - Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution N2 - The Anthropocene is the era of urbanization. The accelerating expansion of cities occurs at the expense of natural reservoirs of biodiversity and presents animals with challenges for which their evolutionary past might not have prepared them. Cognitive and behavioral adjustments to novelty could promote animals’ persistence under these altered conditions. We investigated the structure of, and covariance between, different aspects of responses to novelty in rural and urban small mammals of two non-commensal rodent species. We ran replicated experiments testing responses to three novelty types (object, food, or space) of 47 individual common voles (Microtus arvalis) and 41 individual striped field mice (Apodemus agrarius). We found partial support for the hypothesis that responses to novelty are structured, clustering (i) speed of responses, (ii) intensity of responses, and (iii) responses to food into separate dimensions. Rural and urban small mammals did not differ in most responses to novelty, suggesting that urban habitats do not reduce neophobia in these species. Further studies investigating whether comparable response patters are found throughout different stages of colonization, and along synurbanization processes of different duration, will help illuminate the dynamics of animals’ cognitive adjustments to urban life. KW - animal cognition KW - anthropogenic environment KW - HIREC KW - novelty KW - neophobia KW - neophilia KW - rodents KW - urbanization Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.661971 SN - 2296-701X VL - 9 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mazza, Valeria A1 - Dammhahn, Melanie A1 - Lösche, Elisa A1 - Eccard, Jana T1 - Small mammals in the big city BT - behavioural adjustments of non-commensal rodents to urban environments JF - Global change biology N2 - A fundamental focus of current ecological and evolutionary research is to illuminate the drivers of animals' success in coping with human-induced rapid environmental change (HIREC). Behavioural adaptations are likely to play a major role in coping with HIREC because behaviour largely determines how individuals interact with their surroundings. A substantial body of research reports behavioural modifications in urban dwellers compared to rural conspecifics. However, it is often unknown whether the observed phenotypic divergence is due to phenotypic plasticity or the product of genetic adaptations. Here, we aimed at investigating (a) whether behavioural differences arise also between rural and urban populations of non-commensal rodents; and (b) whether these differences result from behavioural flexibility or from intrinsic behavioural characteristics, such as genetic or maternal effects. We captured and kept under common environment conditions 42 rural and 52 urban adult common voles (Microtus arvalis) from seven subpopulations along a rural-urban gradient. We investigated individual variation in behavioural responses associated with risk-taking and exploration, in situ at the time of capture in the field and ex situ after 3 months in captivity. Urban dwellers were bolder and more explorative than rural conspecifics at the time of capture in their respective sites (in situ). However, when tested under common environmental conditions ex situ, rural individuals showed little change in their behavioural responses whereas urban individuals altered their behaviour considerably and were consistently shyer and less explorative than when tested in situ. The combination of elevated risk-taking and exploration with high behavioural flexibility might allow urban populations to successfully cope with the challenges of HIREC. Investigating whether the observed differences in behavioural flexibility are adaptive and how they are shaped by additive and interactive effects of genetic make-up and past environmental conditions will help illuminate eco-evolutionary dynamics under HIREC and predict persistence of populations under urban conditions. KW - animal personality KW - behavioural adjustment KW - behavioural flexibility KW - environmental change KW - HIREC KW - rodents KW - urbanization Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15304 SN - 1354-1013 SN - 1365-2486 VL - 26 IS - 11 SP - 6326 EP - 6337 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Riebold, Diana A1 - Russow, Kati A1 - Schlegel, Mathias A1 - Wollny, Theres A1 - Thiel, Joerg A1 - Freise, Jona A1 - Hueppop, Ommo A1 - Eccard, Jana A1 - Plenge-Boenig, Anita A1 - Loebermann, Micha A1 - Ulrich, Rainer Günter A1 - Klammt, Sebastian A1 - Mettenleiter, Thomas Christoph A1 - Reisinger, Emil Christian T1 - Occurrence of gastrointestinal parasites in small mammals from Germany JF - Vector borne and zoonotic diseases N2 - An increase in zoonotic infections in humans in recent years has led to a high level of public interest. However, the extent of infestation of free-living small mammals with pathogens and especially parasites is not well understood. This pilot study was carried out within the framework of the "Rodent-borne pathogens" network to identify zoonotic parasites in small mammals in Germany. From 2008 to 2009, 111 small mammals of 8 rodent and 5 insectivore species were collected. Feces and intestine samples from every mammal were examined microscopically for the presence of intestinal parasites by using Telemann concentration for worm eggs, Kinyoun staining for coccidia, and Heidenhain staining for other protozoa. Adult helminths were additionally stained with carmine acid for species determination. Eleven different helminth species, five coccidians, and three other protozoa species were detected. Simultaneous infection of one host by different helminths was common. Hymenolepis spp. (20.7%) were the most common zoonotic helminths in the investigated hosts. Coccidia, including Eimeria spp. (30.6%), Cryptosporidium spp. (17.1%), and Sarcocystis spp. (17.1%), were present in 40.5% of the feces samples of small mammals. Protozoa, such as Giardia spp. and amoebae, were rarely detected, most likely because of the repeated freeze-thawing of the samples during preparation. The zoonotic pathogens detected in this pilot study may be potentially transmitted to humans by drinking water, smear infection, and airborne transmission. KW - parasites KW - rodents KW - insectivores KW - Hymenolepis KW - Germany Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1089/vbz.2019.2457 SN - 1530-3667 SN - 1557-7759 VL - 20 IS - 2 SP - 125 EP - 133 PB - Liebert CY - New Rochelle ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schneeberger, Karin A1 - Eccard, Jana T1 - Experience of social density during early life is associated with attraction to conspecific odour in the common vole (Microtus arvalis) JF - Ethology : international journal of behavioural biology N2 - Social organisation in species with fluctuating population sizes can change with density. Therefore, information on (future) density obtained during early life stages may be associated with social behaviour. Olfactory cues may carry important social information. We investigated whether early life experience of different experimental densities was subsequently associated with differences in attraction to adult conspecific odours. We used common voles (Microtus arvalis), a rodent species undergoing extreme density fluctuations. We found that individuals originating from high experimental density populations kept in large outdoor enclosures invested more time in inspecting conspecific olfactory cues than individuals from low-density populations. Generally, voles from both treatments spent more time with the olfactory cues than expected by chance and did not differ in their latency to approach the odour samples. Our findings indicate either that early experience affects odour sensitivity or that animals evaluate the social information contained in conspecific odours differently, depending on their early life experience of conspecific density. KW - early experience KW - olfactory KW - population cycles KW - priming KW - rodents Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/eth.13211 SN - 0179-1613 SN - 1439-0310 VL - 127 IS - 10 SP - 908 EP - 913 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Berlin ER -