Data from: A behavioral syndrome of competitiveness in a non-social rodent
Data files
Aug 06, 2024 version files 87.51 KB
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body_metrics.xlsx
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emergence.xlsx
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open_field.xlsx
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README.md
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SDE.xlsx
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UMV.xlsx
Abstract
Animals compete for limited resources and the outcome of intraspecific competition should be determined by individual variation in behavioral traits, such as aggressiveness, and dominance status. Consistent among-individual differences in behavior likely contribute to competitiveness and predispose individuals to acquire specific dominance ranks. In a step towards better understanding these functional links, we studied trait integration into behavioral syndromes, using 26 captive male bank voles (Myodes glareolus). We repeatedly assessed boldness in an emergence test, exploration in an open-field test, aggressiveness in staged dyadic encounters, and the among-individual correlations between these behaviors. We further related these personality traits to dominance rank, from quantifying urine marking value (UMV), as marking in bank voles is related to dominance rank. We found repeatable variations in boldness, exploration, aggressiveness, and UMV, which were correlated at the among-individual level. Aggressiveness tended to be negatively correlated with body condition, a proxy for fitness. Thus, key personality traits and social rank are functionally integrated into a behavioral syndrome of intraspecific competitiveness.
README: Data from: A behavioral syndrome of competitiveness in a non-social rodent
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.dncjsxm61
Description of the data and file structure
# Data from: A behavioral syndrome of competitiveness in a non-social rodent
[Access this dataset on Dryad](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.dncjsxm61)
The dataset contains four excel files of data from behavioral assessment of and one excel file of body metrics of male bank voles. All datasets have a “data” tab for the data and a “labels” tab explaining the data that can be found under the column names in the “data” tab. The individual identification “id” is the same across all files. The file names “emergence”, “open-field”, “SDE”, and “UMV” correspond to the assays explained in detail below. The “body metrics” dataset corresponds to the “body condition” section explained below. The body condition is also present in the SDE dataset. Statistical analysis used to analyze the data is described in the “Statistical analyses” section. This data can be used to evaluate among-individual correlations in behavior.
We collected the data for a study on captive animals from July-February of 2021 and 2022 in the animal facilities of the Animal Ecology Group in Potsdam (Germany). Study animals were male bank voles (Myodes glareolus) captured from the wild in a small forest patch near Potsdam (Germany)(n = 20) or born in captivity (n = 6) as F1 of wild-caught parents. Prior to the experiments, all animals spent 3 to 5 months in the laboratory and were sexually mature. Voles were housed in standard polycarbonate cages (type III and type IV) provided with wood shavings and hay as bedding, cardboard rolls as shelter, and a running disk for enrichment. Water and food pellets (Ssniff, NM, V 1244-0) were available ad libitum.
Files and variables
File: body_metrics.xlsx
Description: body metrics data of individuals in assessed for behavior.
Variables
- id = the individual identification of male voles in the behavioral assays, same as the “id” in other data files.
- width = the head width (mm)
- comment = comments to the head width measurements, dead indicates that an animal was dead when the measurement was taken (blank cells have no comments)
- closest_bm = body mass (g) of the temporally closest measurement taken to the head width measurement
- date_bm = date for when the body mass was taken
File: UMV.xlsx
Description: data from paired trials to assess urine marking behavior
Variables
- id = individual identification of the male voles in the experiment, same as the “id” in other data files.
- date = date at which the test was conducted
- UMV = the urine marking value scored as the number of squares with urine markings see paper for details (1-35)
- total_squares_visible = the total number of squares that could be evaluated for UMV
- UMV_factor = a factor based on the type of markings (D = dominant, S = subordinate)
- test_time = the temporal length of the test in minutes
- test.occasion = the orded of the test conducted, (first = 1, second = 2, third = 3 , fourth =4, time tested)
- opponent = the identification of the opponent
- comments = any comments to the body condition measurement
File: README.md
Description: README for datasets.
File: SDE.xlsx
Description: data from staged dyadic encounters for assessing aggressiveness behavior.
Variables
- id = individual identification of the male voles in the experiment, same as the “id” in other data files.
- date = date at which the test was conducted
- time = time at which the test was conducted
- test.occasion = the orded of the test conducted, (first = 1, second = 2, third = 3 , fourth =4, time tested)
- t*est_compartment* = which compartment (i.e. which side of the barrier) of the arena the individual was placed
- arena = which arena out of two identical arenas the animal was placed in
- opponent = the individual identification (id) of the opponent
- body_mass = the body mass (g) immediately before the test was conducted
- time_Z1 = time spent in Zone 1 (the zone closest to the barrier and the opponent)
- time_Z1_opponent_Z1 = time spent in Zone 1 (the zone closest to the barrier and the opponent) when the opponent was also in Zone 1 of his compartment of the arena.
- time_Z2 = time spent in zone 2 (the middle zone of the compartment of the arena)
- time_Z3 = time spent in zone 3 (the zone furthest away from the barrier)
- total_time = total time in test (s)
- A2 = is the number of crossings by the focus individual into Zone 1 (the zone closest to the barrier and the opponent) disregarding the position (which zone or side of the arena) of the opponent (see online resource 1 Figure S2 from Erixon et al. 2024).
- A1 = is the number of crossings into Zone 1 (the zone closest to the barrier and the opponent) when the opponent is on the same side (disregarding zone location) and when the focus individual crosses within Zone 1 to the side in which the opponent is located (disregarding zone location) (see online resource 1 Figure S2 from Erixon et al. 2024)
- A4 = is the number of crossings by the focus individual into Zone 1 (the zone closest to the barrier and the opponent) when the opponent is in Zone 1 but disregarding which side of the arena the opponent is positioned in (see online resource 1 Figure S2 from Erixon et al. 2024).
- A3 = is the number of crossings into Zone 1 (the zone closest to the barrier and the opponent) when the opponent is located in Zone 1 and crossings within Zone 1 to the side the opponent vole is located in (see online resource 1 Figure S2 from Erixon et al. 2024).
- D2 = is the number of crossings by the focus individual out of Zone 1 (the zone closest to the barrier and the opponent) disregarding the position (which zone or side of the arena) of the opponent (see online resource 1 Figure S2 from Erixon et al. 2024).
- D1 = is the number of crossings out of Zone 1 (the zone closest to the barrier and the opponent) when the opponent is on the same side (disregarding zone location) and when the focus individual crosses within Zone 1 away from (D) the side in which the opponent is located (disregarding zone location) (see online resource 1 Figure S2 from Erixon et al. 2024).
- D4 = is the number of crossings by the focus individual out of Zone 1 (the zone closest to the barrier and the opponent) when the opponent is in Zone 1 but disregarding which side of the arena the opponent is positioned in (see online resource 1 Figure S2 from Erixon et al. 2024).
- D3 = is the number of crossings out of Zone 1 (the zone closest to the barrier and the opponent) when the opponent is located in Zone 1 and crossings within Zone 1 away from the side the opponent vole is located in (see online resource 1 Figure S2 from Erixon et al. 2024).
- total_crossings = total number of crossings between zones in the arena
- comment = any comments to the test
- body_condition = the body condition (g) at the start of the test, the index is calculated as the mass (g) of an individual standardized to the mean head width (mm)
- comment_bc = any comments to the body condition measurement
File: open_field.xlsx
Description: data from open-field test.
Variables
- id = individual identification of the male voles in the experiment, same as the “id” in other data files.
- test.occasion = the orded of the test conducted, (first = 1, second = 2 , time tested)
- observer = initials of the observer of the test
- date = date at which the test was conducted
- time = time at which the test was conducted
- latency_center = the latency to enter the center circle with the whole body (excluding the tail) (s)
- crossings = number of crossings into the center circle with the whole body (excluding the tail)
- sections = number of sections explored of the arena (1-16)
- activity = number 10 s interval instances spent active in the arena (1-35)
- inactivity = number 10 s interval instances spent inactive in the arena (1-35)
- percentage_active = percentag eof 10 second interval instances spent active (the activity divided by 35 - or less if the activity was impossible to not at any 10 s instance)
- days_between_tests = the number of days between tests occasions
- comment = any comments to the test, Na’s and blank cells indicate that there are no comments to the test.
File: emergence.xlsx
Description: data from emergence test.
Variables
- id = individual identification of the male voles in the experiment, same as the “id” in other data files.
- test.occasion = the order of the test conducted, (first = 1, second = 2 , time tested)
- observer = initials of the observer of the test
- date = date at which the test was conducted, NA’s indicate when the data does not exist for the animal as the video recording gave up on three occasions.
- time = time of day at which the test was conducted, NA’s indicate when the data does not exist for the animal as the video recording gave up on three occasions.
- days_between_tests = the number of days between tests occasions, NA’s indicate are present when data from the second test is missing and there is no record of the number of days between tests.
- latency_head = the latency to emerge from tube with the whole head (including the ears) (s) , NA’s indicate when the data does not exist for the animal as the video recording gave up on three occasions.
- latency_body = the latency to emerge from the tube with the whole body (excluding the tail) (s), NA’s indicate when the data does not exist for the animal as the video recording gave up on three occasions.
- comment = any comments to the test
Code/Software
All analyses were carried out in R, Version 4.3.1.