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Dryad

Sex- and state-dependent covariation of risk-averse and escape behavior in a widespread lizard

Wu, Qiang1; Rutschmann, Alexis2; Miles, Donald3; Richard, Murielle1; Clobert, Jean1

Published Nov 05, 2023 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.qjq2bvqkg

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Abstract

Mounting evidence has shown that personality and behavioral syndromes have a substantial influence on interspecific interactions and individual fitness. However, the stability of covariation among multiple behavioral traits involved in antipredator responses has seldom been tested. Here, we investigate whether sex, gravidity, and parasite infestations influence the covariation between risk-aversion (hiding time within a refuge) and escape response (immobility, escape distance) using a viviparous lizard, Zootoca vivipara as a model system. Our results demonstrated a correlation between risk-averse and escape behavior at the among-individual level, but only in gravid females. We found no significant correlations in either males or neonates. A striking result was the loss of the association in post-parturition females. This suggests that the ‘risk-averse – escape’ syndrome is ephemeral and only emerges in response to constraints on locomotion driven by reproductive burden. Moreover, parasites have the potential to disassociate the correlations between risk-aversion and escape response in gravid females, yet the causal chain requires further examination. Overall, our findings provide evidence of differences in the association between behaviors within the life-time of an individual and indicate that individual states, sex and life stages can together influence the stability of behavioral syndromes.