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Expression and mechanisms of behavioral plasticity in large mammals

Becker, Justine A.1; Thomas-Kuzilik, Rebecca R.2; Beck, Jeffrey L.2; Clapp, Justin G.2; Courtemanch, Alyson B.3; Fralick, Gary L.3; Geremia, Chris J.4; Hall, L. Embere3; Kauffman, Matthew J.5; Lowrey, Blake H.5; Metz, Matthew C.4; Miyasaki, Hollie M.6; Monteith, Kevin L.2; Ortega, Anna C.2; Sawyer, Hall7; Smith, Douglas W.4; Stahler, Erin E.4; Stahler, Daniel R.4; Verzuh, Tana L.2; Merkle, Jerod A.2

Published Sep 18, 2025 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.stqjq2cfh

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Abstract

Behavioral plasticity, the alteration of behavior in response to stimuli, is becoming increasingly important in the context of human-induced rapid environmental change. Theoretical and empirical studies suggest that the expression and magnitude of behavioral plasticity are likely facilitated or constrained primarily by two factors: environmental variation and endogenous traits such as body size. The contextual role of these factors on behavioral plasticity, however, is poorly understood; there are relatively few studies that have compared the magnitude and potential drivers of behavioral plasticity at different levels (i.e., population and individual) across species, especially in free-ranging animals with diverse behavioral traits such as large mammals. Here, we quantify and test potential hypotheses for the mechanisms underpinning behavioral plasticity at the individual and population level in response to variation in summer temperatures for 1,068 animal years in 17 populations across 9 species of large mammals. All populations displayed behavioral plasticity in response to increased temperatures, modifying their relative selection for heat-relieving habitat attributes (e.g., elevation) and heat-generating behavior (i.e., movement speed). We found strong support for the hypothesis that the variability of the physical environment is an important driver of behavioral plasticity—both mean population behavioral plasticity and variation among individuals within each population in plasticity were lower with increased heterogeneity of habitat attributes such as tree cover. Yet, the variability in environmental conditions (i.e., the magnitude of the temperature increase) had no effect on behavioral plasticity within and among populations. We did not detect an effect of endogenous traits on the expression of behavioral plasticity; however, we note that data availability limited our tests of this hypothesis to a select few endogenous traits (body size, feeding guild, and sex of the tracked individuals) that predominantly vary at the species level, for which we had 1-3 replicate populations per species. Our results provide an integrative and generalizable understanding of the expression of behavioral plasticity among populations of large mammals in temperate environments and emphasize the important but nuanced role of environmental variation in determining the scope of behavioral plasticity in these populations.