TY - JOUR A1 - Eccard, Jana A1 - Liesenjohann, Thilo A1 - Dammhahn, Melanie T1 - Among-individual differences in foraging modulate resource exploitation under perceived predation risk JF - Oecologia N2 - Foraging is risky and involves balancing the benefits of resource acquisition with costs of predation. Optimal foraging theory predicts where, when and how long to forage in a given spatiotemporal distribution of risks and resources. However, significant variation in foraging behaviour and resource exploitation remain unexplained. Using single foragers in artificial landscapes of perceived risks and resources with diminishing returns, we aimed to test whether foraging behaviour and resource exploitation are adjusted to risk level, vary with risk during different components of foraging, and (co)vary among individuals. We quantified foraging behaviour and resource exploitation for 21 common voles (Microtus arvalis). By manipulating ground cover, we created simple landscapes of two food patches varying in perceived risk during feeding in a patch and/or while travelling between patches. Foraging of individuals was variable and adjusted to risk level and type. High risk during feeding reduced feeding duration and food consumption more strongly than risk while travelling. Risk during travelling modified the risk effects of feeding for changes between patches and resulting evenness of resource exploitation. Across risk conditions individuals differed consistently in when and how long they exploited resources and exposed themselves to risk. These among-individual differences in foraging behaviour were associated with consistent patterns of resource exploitation. Thus, different strategies in foraging-under-risk ultimately lead to unequal payoffs and might affect lower trophic levels in food webs. Inter-individual differences in foraging behaviour, i.e. foraging personalities, are an integral part of foraging behaviour and need to be fully integrated into optimal foraging theory. KW - animal personality KW - giving-up density KW - intra-specific trait variation KW - landscape of fear KW - optimal foraging KW - predation risk KW - resource KW - exploitation Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-020-04773-y SN - 0029-8549 SN - 1432-1939 VL - 194 IS - 4 SP - 621 EP - 634 PB - Springer CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mazza, Valeria A1 - Günther, Anja T1 - City mice and country mice BT - innovative problem solving in rural and urban noncommensal rodents JF - Animal behaviour N2 - The ability to produce innovative behaviour is a key determinant in the successful coping with environmental challenges and changes. The expansion of human-altered environments presents wildlife with multiple novel situations in which innovativeness could be beneficial. A better understanding of the drivers of within-species variation in innovation propensity and its consequences will provide insights into the traits enabling animals to thrive in the face of human-induced rapid environmental change. We compared problem-solving performance of 31 striped field mice, Apodemus agrarius, originating from rural or urban environments in a battery of eight foraging extraction tasks. We tested whether differences in problem-solving performance were mediated by the extent and duration of the animal's exploration of the experimental set-ups, the time required to solve the tasks, and their persistence. In addition, we tested the influence of the diversity of motor responses, as well as of behavioural traits boldness and activity on problem-solving performance. Urban individuals were better problem solvers despite rural individuals approaching faster and interacting longer with the test set-ups. Participation rates and time required to solve a task did not differ between rural and urban individuals. However, in case of failure to solve a task, rural mice were more persistent. The best predictors of solving success, aside from the area of origin, were the time spent exploring the set-ups and boldness, while activity and diversity of motor responses did not explain it. Problem-solving ability could thus be a contributing factor to the successful coping with the rapid and recent expansion of human-altered environments. KW - animal personality KW - anthropogenic environment KW - Apodemus agrarius KW - HIREC KW - individual differences KW - innovation KW - problem solving KW - rodent KW - urbanization Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2020.12.007 SN - 0003-3472 SN - 1095-8282 VL - 172 SP - 197 EP - 210 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - GEN A1 - Herde, Antje A1 - Eccard, Jana T1 - Consistency in boldness, activity and exploration at different stages of life N2 - 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. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 376 KW - animal personality KW - behavioural type KW - Microtus arvalis KW - common vole KW - plasticity KW - consistency KW - repeatability Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-401395 ER - TY - THES A1 - Schirmer, Annika T1 - Consistent individual differences in movement-related behaviour as equalising and/or stabilising mechanisms for species coexistence T1 - Konstante individuelle Unterschiede in Bewegungs-relevanten Verhaltensweisen als stabilisierende und/oder angleichende Mechanismen für die Koexistenz von Arten N2 - The facilitation of species coexistence has been a central theme in ecological research for years, highlighting two key aspects: ecological niches and competition between species. According to the competitive exclusion principle, the overlap of species niches predicts the amount of shared resources and therefore competition between species, determining their ability to coexist. Only if niches of two species are sufficiently different, thus niche overlap is low, competition within species is higher than competition between species and stable coexistence is possible. Thereby, differences in species mean traits are focused on and conspecific individuals are assumed to be interchangeable. This approach might be outdated since behaviour, as a key aspect mediating niche differentiation between species, is individual based. Individuals from one species consistently differ across time and situations in their behavioural traits. Causes and consequences of consistent behavioural differences have been thoroughly investigated stimulating their recent incorporation into ecological interactions and niche theory. Spatial components have so far been largely overlooked, although animal movement is strongly connected to several aspects of ecological niches and interactions between individuals. Furthermore, numerous movement aspects haven been proven to be crucially influenced by consistent individual differences. Considering spatial parameters could therefore crucially broaden our understanding of how individual niches are formed and ecological interactions are shaped. Furthermore, extending established concepts on species interactions by an individual component could provide new insights into how species coexistence is facilitated and local biodiversity is maintained. The main aim of this thesis was to test whether consistent inter-individual differences can facilitate the coexistence of ecological similar species. Therefore, the effects of consistent inter-individual differences on the spatial behaviour of two rodent species, the bank vole (Myodes glareolus) and the striped field mouse (Apodemus agrarius), were investigated and put in the context of: (i) individual spatial niches, (ii) interactions between species, and (iii) the importance of different levels of behavioural variation within species for their interactions. Consistent differences of study animals in boldness and exploration were quantified with the same tests in all presented studies and always combined with observations of movement and space use via automated VHF radio telemetry. Consequently, results are comparable throughout the thesis and the methods provide a common denominator for all chapters. The first two chapters are based on observations of free-ranging rodents in natural populations, while chapter III represents an experimental approach under semi-natural conditions. Chapter I focusses on the effect of consistent differences in boldness and exploration on movement and space use of bank voles and their contribution to individual spatial niche separation. Results show boldness to be the dominating predictor for spatial parameters in bank voles. Irrespective of sex, bolder individuals had larger home ranges, moved longer distances, had less spatial interactions with conspecifics and occupied different microhabitats compared to shy individuals. The same boldness-dependent spatial patterns could be observed in striped field mice which is reported in chapter II. Therefore, both study species showed individual spatial niche occupation. Chapter II builds on findings from the first chapter, investigating the effect of boldness driven individual spatial niche occupation on the interactions between species. Irrespective of species and sex, bolder individuals had more interspecific spatial interactions, but less intraspecific interactions, compared to shy individuals. Due to individual niches occupation the competitive environment individuals experience is not random. Interactions are restricted to individuals of similar behavioural type with presumably similar competitive ability, which could balance differences on the species level and support coexistence. In chapter III the experimental populations were either comprised of only shy or only bold bank voles, while striped field mice varied, creating either a shy- or bold-biased competitive community. Irrespective of behavioural type, striped field mice had more intraspecific interactions in bold-biased competitive communities. Only in a shy-biased competitive community, bolder striped field mice had less interspecific interactions compared to shy individuals. Bank voles showed no difference in intra- or interspecific interactions between populations. Chapter III highlights, that not only consistent inter-individual differences per se are important for interactions within and between species, but also the amount of behavioural variation within coexisting species. Overall, this thesis highlights the importance of considering consistent inter-individual differences in a spatial context and their connection to individual spatial niche occupation, as well as the resulting effects on interactions within and between species. Individual differences are discussed in the context of similarity of individuals, individual and species niche width, and individual and species niche overlap. Thereby, this thesis makes one step further from the existing research on individual niches towards integrating consistent inter-individual differences into the larger framework of species coexistence. N2 - Ein zentrales Thema in der Ökologie ist die Koexistenz von Arten. Zwei Aspekte sind dabei von großer Bedeutung: ökologische Nischen und zwischenartliche Konkurrenz. Das Konkurrenz-Ausschlussprinzip besagt, dass der Überlappungsgrad der Nischen zweier Arten bestimmt, wie viele Ressourcen sie teilen und damit wie stark die Konkurrenz zwischen ihnen ist. Eine stabile Koexistenz zweier Arten ist nur dann möglich, wenn ihre Nischen unterschiedlich genug sind und eine geringe Überlappung vorliegt. In diesem Fall ist die innerartliche Konkurrenz größer als die zwischenartliche, und die Bedingungen für eine langfristig stabile Koexistenz sind gegeben. Traditionell werden hierbei nur mittlere Unterschiede zwischen den Fokusarten verglichen und der Einfluss von Unterschieden zwischen Individuen nicht beachtet. Ein wesentlicher Aspekt, der die Nischendifferenzierung zwischen Tierarten beeinflusst ist deren Verhalten. Dieses ist jedoch nachweislich individuell geprägt, folglich könnte der oben erwähnte Ansatz zur Koexistenz von Arten eventuell veraltet sein. Zwischen Individuen einer Art gibt es konstante Verhaltensunterschiede, die stabil bleiben über die Zeit und zwischen verschiedenen Situationen. Ursachen und Effekte dieser Unterschiede wurden bereits in zahlreichen Tierarten untersucht, wodurch ebenfalls die Integration von individuellen Verhaltensunterschieden in das Konzept der ökologischen Nische angestoßen wurde. Aspekte der Raumnutzung von Tieren fanden hierbei bislang kaum Beachtung, obwohl sie für eine Vielzahl von Parametern, die mit Nischen in Verbindung stehen, essentiell sind. Räumliches Verhalten von Tieren wird stark durch individuelle Verhaltensunterschiede beeinflusst, weswegen es eine wichtige Rolle im Zusammenhang mit individuellen Nischen spielen sollte. Hinsichtlich der Formation individueller Nischen und ökologischer Interaktionen hat die Einbeziehung von räumlichen Aspekten das Potential entscheidende Impulse zu erbringen. Die Erweiterung bestehender Theorien zu Artinteraktionen, um eine individuelle Komponente, kann neue Einblicke schaffen wie Koexistenz zwischen Arten vermittelt und örtliche Biodiversität erhalten wird. Die hier vorliegende Arbeit befasst sich mit den Einflüssen von stabilen, individuellen Verhaltensunterschieden auf die Raumnutzung von Individuen. Dies wurde exemplarisch an zwei Nagerarten untersucht, der Rötelmaus (Myodes glareolus) und der Brandmaus (Apodemus agrarius). Dabei wird der Fokus auf die folgenden Aspekte gelegt: (i) individuelle Nischen, (ii) Interaktionen zwischen Arten, und (iii) Auswirkungen verschiedener Variationsgrade stabiler Verhaltensunterschiede auf die Interaktionen innerhalb und zwischen Arten. Alle Kapitel basieren auf der gleichen Methodik in der Datenaufnahme, da individuelle Verhaltensunterschiede stets mit dem gleichen Test quantifiziert und mit räumlichen Mustern in Zusammenhang gebracht wurden, die mit Hilfe automatischer VHF Radiotelemetrie aufgezeichnet wurden. Ergebnisse sind somit auch kapitelübergreifend vergleichbar. Kapitel eins und zwei umfassen Studien an freilebenden Nagetieren aus natürlichen Populationen, während das dritte Kapitel eine experimentelle Studie unter naturnahen Bedingungen darstellt. Das erste Kapitel handelt von den Effekten stabiler Verhaltensunterschiede in der Risikobereitschaft und dem Explorationsverhalten von Rötelmäusen auf deren Bewegungsmuster. Letztere wurden nur durch die Risikobereitschaft der Individuen beeinflusst, aber nicht durch deren Explorationsverhalten. Risikofreudigere Individuen hatten größere Streifgebiete, legten längere Strecken zurück, hatten weniger innerartliche Interaktionen und bewohnten andere Mikrohabitate als risikoscheue Individuen. Gleiche Muster konnten für die Brandmäuse gefunden werden, werden jedoch erst im zweiten Kapitel dargestellt. Beide Arten besetzen somit individuelle räumliche Nischen. Kapitel zwei baut auf dem Resultat des ersten Kapitels auf und beschäftigt sich mit den Auswirkungen von individuellen räumlichen Nischen auf die Interaktionen zwischen zwei Arten. Hierbei konnte gezeigt werden, dass unabhängig von Art und Geschlecht, risikofreudigere Individuen weniger innerartliche Interaktionen haben, dafür aber mehr zwischenartliche im Vergleich zu risikoscheuen Individuen. Die Besetzung individueller Nischen hat somit zur Folge, dass das Konkurrenz-Umfeld der Individuen abhängig von ihrem Verhaltenstyp ist. Daraus folgt, dass die Interaktionen zwischen Individuen zweier Arten beschränkt sind auf solche Individuen, die sich in ihrem Verhaltenstyp, und damit ihrer Konkurrenzkraft, ähneln. Etwaige Artunterschiede in der Konkurrenzkraft könnten dadurch ausgeglichen werden und die Koexistenz der Arten vermitteln. Im letzten Kapitel wurden experimentelle Populationen aus beiden Versuchsarten zusammengestellt. Diese unterschieden sich darin, dass die Rötelmäuse entweder ausschließlich risikoscheu oder risikobereit waren, während die Brandmäuse in ihrem Verhaltenstyp variierten. Dadurch wurden Artgemeinschaften erstellt, die entweder ein vorwiegend risikoscheues oder risikobereites Konkurrenz-Umfeld hatten. Eine reduzierte Variationsbreite der individuellen Verhaltensunterschiede in einer von zwei koexistierenden Arten führt dazu, dass sich die Interaktionsmuster innerhalb und zwischen den Arten, im Vergleich zu denen aus natürlichen Populationen verändern. Brandmäuse in einem risikobereiten Konkurrenz-Umfeld hatten mehr innerartliche Interaktionen als solche in einem risikoscheuen Konkurrenz-Umfeld, unabhängig davon ob die Brandmäuse selber risikoscheu oder risikofreudig waren. Die zwischenartlichen Interaktionen dagegen wurden nur in einem risikoscheuen Konkurrenz-Umfeld von risikobereiten Brandmäusen reduziert im Gegensatz zu risikoscheuen Individuen. Währenddessen zeigen Rötelmäuse weder in den inner- noch in den zwischenartlichen Interaktionen einen Unterschied aufgrund ihres Konkurrenz-Umfeldes. Das dritte Kapitel zeigt damit deutlich, dass nicht nur stabile individuelle Unterschiede für inner- und zwischenartliche Interaktionen von Bedeutung sind, sondern dass auch die Variationsbreite der Verhaltensunterschiede innerhalb der Arten eine entscheidende Rolle spielt. Zusammenfassend verdeutlicht die vorliegende Arbeit wie wichtig die Berücksichtigung von stabilen individuellen Verhaltensunterschieden im Hinblick auf räumliche Parameter ist. Darüber hinaus zeigen die vorliegenden Ergebnisse, dass individuelle Verhaltensunterschiede für die Besetzung individueller Nischen und damit für inner- und zwischenartlichen Interaktionen von großer Bedeutung sind. Innerhalb dieser Arbeit werden individuelle Verhaltensunterschiede in Zusammenhang mit der Ähnlichkeit von Arten, der Breite von individuellen Nischen und Artnischen, sowie deren Überlappung gebracht. Diese Arbeit stellt somit eine Erweiterung des bisherigen Forschungstandes hinsichtlich der Einbeziehung von individuellen Verhaltensunterschieden in die Theorie der Koexistenz von Arten dar. KW - ecological interactions KW - inter-individual differences KW - animal personality KW - movement ecology KW - space use Y1 - 2019 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 - GEN 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 T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe 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. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 747 KW - activity KW - animal personality KW - wildlife corridors KW - habitat connectivity KW - individual differences KW - rodents Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-435770 SN - 1866-8372 IS - 747 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Eccard, Jana A1 - Herde, Antje A1 - Schuster, Andrea C. A1 - Liesenjohann, Thilo A1 - Knopp, Tatjana A1 - Heckel, Gerald A1 - Dammhahn, Melanie T1 - Fitness, risk taking, and spatial behavior covary with boldness in experimental vole populations T2 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Individuals of a population may vary along a pace-of-life syndrome from highly fecund, short-lived, bold, dispersive “fast” types at one end of the spectrum to less fecund, long-lived, shy, plastic “slow” types at the other end. Risk-taking behavior might mediate the underlying life history trade-off, but empirical evidence supporting this hypothesis is still ambiguous. Using experimentally created populations of common voles (Microtus arvalis)—a species with distinct seasonal life history trajectories—we aimed to test whether individual differences in boldness behavior covary with risk taking, space use, and fitness. We quantified risk taking, space use (via automated tracking), survival, and reproductive success (via genetic parentage analysis) in 8 to 14 experimental, mixed-sex populations of 113 common voles of known boldness type in large grassland enclosures over a significant part of their adult life span and two reproductive events. Populations were assorted to contain extreme boldness types (bold or shy) of both sexes. Bolder individuals took more risks than shyer ones, which did not affect survival. Bolder males but not females produced more offspring than shy conspecifics. Daily home range and core area sizes, based on 95% and 50% Kernel density estimates (20 ± 10 per individual, n = 54 individuals), were highly repeatable over time. Individual space use unfolded differently for sex-boldness type combinations over the course of the experiment. While day ranges decreased for shy females, they increased for bold females and all males. Space use trajectories may, hence, indicate differences in coping styles when confronted with a novel social and physical environment. Thus, interindividual differences in boldness predict risk taking under near-natural conditions and have consequences for fitness in males, which have a higher reproductive potential than females. Given extreme inter- and intra-annual fluctuations in population density in the study species and its short life span, density-dependent fluctuating selection operating differently on the sexes might maintain (co)variation in boldness, risk taking, and pace-of-life. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 1258 KW - animal personality KW - automated radio telemetry KW - behavioral type KW - fitness KW - home range KW - Microtus arvalis KW - parentage KW - reproductive success Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-558866 SN - 1866-8372 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Eccard, Jana A1 - Herde, Antje A1 - Schuster, Andrea C. A1 - Liesenjohann, Thilo A1 - Knopp, Tatjana A1 - Heckel, Gerald A1 - Dammhahn, Melanie T1 - Fitness, risk taking, and spatial behavior covary with boldness in experimental vole populations JF - Ecology And Evolution N2 - Individuals of a population may vary along a pace-of-life syndrome from highly fecund, short-lived, bold, dispersive “fast” types at one end of the spectrum to less fecund, long-lived, shy, plastic “slow” types at the other end. Risk-taking behavior might mediate the underlying life history trade-off, but empirical evidence supporting this hypothesis is still ambiguous. Using experimentally created populations of common voles (Microtus arvalis)—a species with distinct seasonal life history trajectories—we aimed to test whether individual differences in boldness behavior covary with risk taking, space use, and fitness. We quantified risk taking, space use (via automated tracking), survival, and reproductive success (via genetic parentage analysis) in 8 to 14 experimental, mixed-sex populations of 113 common voles of known boldness type in large grassland enclosures over a significant part of their adult life span and two reproductive events. Populations were assorted to contain extreme boldness types (bold or shy) of both sexes. Bolder individuals took more risks than shyer ones, which did not affect survival. Bolder males but not females produced more offspring than shy conspecifics. Daily home range and core area sizes, based on 95% and 50% Kernel density estimates (20 ± 10 per individual, n = 54 individuals), were highly repeatable over time. Individual space use unfolded differently for sex-boldness type combinations over the course of the experiment. While day ranges decreased for shy females, they increased for bold females and all males. Space use trajectories may, hence, indicate differences in coping styles when confronted with a novel social and physical environment. Thus, interindividual differences in boldness predict risk taking under near-natural conditions and have consequences for fitness in males, which have a higher reproductive potential than females. Given extreme inter- and intra-annual fluctuations in population density in the study species and its short life span, density-dependent fluctuating selection operating differently on the sexes might maintain (co)variation in boldness, risk taking, and pace-of-life. KW - animal personality KW - automated radio telemetry KW - behavioral type KW - fitness KW - home range KW - Microtus arvalis KW - parentage KW - reproductive success Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8521 SN - 2045-7758 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - John Wiley & Sons, Inc. CY - Vereinigte Staaten ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Steinhoff, Philip O. M. A1 - Warfen, Bennet A1 - Voigt, Sissy A1 - Uhl, Gabriele A1 - Dammhahn, Melanie T1 - Individual differences in risk-taking affect foraging across different landscapes of fear JF - Oikos N2 - One of the strongest determinants of behavioural variation is the tradeoff between resource gain and safety. Although classical theory predicts optimal foraging under risk, empirical studies report large unexplained variation in behaviour. Intrinsic individual differences in risk-taking behaviour might contribute to this variation. By repeatedly exposing individuals of a small mesopredator to different experimental landscapes of risks and resources, we tested 1) whether individuals adjust their foraging behaviour according to predictions of the general tradeoff between energy gain and predation avoidance and 2) whether individuals differ consistently and predictably from each other in how they solve this tradeoff. Wild-caught individuals (n = 42) of the jumping spiderMarpissa muscosa, were subjected to repeated release and open-field tests to quantify among-individual variation in boldness and activity. Subsequently, individuals were tested in four foraging tests that differed in risk level (white/dark background colour) and risk variation (constant risk/variable risk simulated by bird dummy overflights) and contained inaccessible but visually perceivable food patches. When exposed to a white background, individuals reduced some aspects of movement and foraging intensity, suggesting that the degree of camouflage serves as a proxy of perceived risk in these predators. Short pulses of acute predation risk, simulated by bird overflights, had only small effects on aspects of foraging behaviour. Notably, a significant part of variation in foraging was due to among-individual differences across risk landscapes that are linked to consistent individual variation in activity, forming a behavioural syndrome. Our results demonstrate the importance of among-individual differences in behaviour of animals that forage under different levels of perceived risk. Since these differences likely affect food-web dynamics and have fitness consequences, future studies should explore the mechanisms that maintain the observed variation in natural populations. KW - animal personality KW - behavioural syndrome KW - foraging KW - jumping spider KW - landscape of fear KW - risk-reward tradeoff Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.07508 SN - 0030-1299 SN - 1600-0706 VL - 129 IS - 12 SP - 1891 EP - 1902 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - GEN A1 - Mazza, Valeria A1 - Jacob, Jens A1 - Dammhahn, Melanie A1 - Zaccaroni, Marco A1 - Eccard, Jana T1 - Individual variation in cognitive style reflects foraging and antipredator strategies in a small mammal T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Balancing foraging gain and predation risk is a fundamental trade-off in the life of animals. Individual strategies to acquire, process, store and use information to solve cognitive tasks are likely to affect speed and flexibility of learning, and ecologically relevant decisions regarding foraging and predation risk. Theory suggests a functional link between individual variation in cognitive style and behaviour (animal personality) via speed-accuracy and risk-reward trade-offs. We tested whether cognitive style and personality affect risk-reward trade-off decisions posed by foraging and predation risk. We exposed 21 bank voles (Myodes glareolus) that were bold, fast learning and inflexible and 18 voles that were shy, slow learning and flexible to outdoor enclosures with different risk levels at two food patches. We quantified individual food patch exploitation, foraging and vigilance behaviour. Although both types responded to risk, fast animals increasingly exploited both food patches, gaining access to more food and spending less time searching and exercising vigilance. Slow animals progressively avoided high-risk areas, concentrating foraging effort in the low-risk one, and devoting >50% of visit to vigilance. These patterns indicate that individual differences in cognitive style/personality are reflected in foraging and anti-predator decisions that underlie the individual risk-reward bias. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 761 KW - voles clethrionomys-glareolus KW - coping styles KW - bank voles KW - behavioral flexibility KW - trade-offs KW - exploratory-behavior KW - mustelid predation KW - social information KW - animal personality KW - stress Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-437118 SN - 1866-8372 IS - 761 ER -