Interspecific competition affects the expression of personality-traits in natural populations

Interspecific competition can cause niche partitioning among species in a community and shape an individual’s phenotype, including its behaviour. However, little is known about how interspecific competition affects the expression of animal personality. We investigated whether the occurrence of competing alien grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) altered personality traits in native Eurasian red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris). We compared personality traits of red squirrels in red-only (no interspecific competition) and red-grey (with interspecific competition) sites, using arena tests. Open Field Test returned repeatable estimates of activity and shyness, Mirror Image Stimulation test of sociability and avoidance of a conspecific. Red squirrels competing with the alien species had higher sociability and slightly lower avoidance than in red-only sites. Moreover, an individual’s probability to survive was not affected by any of the personality traits, but more active females were more likely to wean a litter than shy ones. This relationship was not affected by the presence or absence of the alien competitor. Our findings suggest that the occurrence of certain personality traits in red squirrels was affected by interspecific competition not as a consequence of short-term selection, but more likely as a result of context-related advantages of sociability or avoidance.

Jaar van publicatie:2019

Toegankelijkheid:open

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Licentie:CC-BY-NC-4.0

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Trefwoorden: Biology, Engineering sciences. Technology