Interspecific competition affects the expression of personality-traits in natural populations Universiteit Antwerpen
Stefan Van Dongen, M.V. Mazzamuto, F. Santicchia, D.G. Preatoni, A. Martinoli
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 ...