Does explorative behavior allow the successful finding of ephemeral food resources in the wild?

Abstract

Abstract The repeatable among-individual variation in behavior (animal personality) is considered to affect fitness. The variation in personality traits is shaped by complex evolutionary mechanisms involving mainly energy allocation and resource acquisition. However, an association between personality and individual performance in energy gain in the natural environment still seems underexplored. The aim of our study was to test a hypothesis that consistent individual variation in behavior affects the energy acquisition of unpredictable food resources. We predicted that more explorative individuals would be finding ephemeral food resources with higher probability than those less explorative. The quasi-experiment with ‘random-walking-feeders’ was performed to assess the use of unpredictable food resources in the natural habitat occupied by free-ranging arboreal rodents – edible dormice Glis glis. Repeated open field test at laboratory conditions was conducted to assess whether male dormice show consistent among-individual variation in behavior. The open field test analysis indicated two main components of dormice behavior: exploration and boldness, from which only the first one was repeatable and thus considered as a component of animal personality. The probability of finding a feeder increased with exploration, independently of dormice age and body size. The results indicate that exploration can be considered an adaptive trait that improve the energy acquisition. We suggest that the behavioral among-individual variation within populations persists due to use of distinct foraging strategies in the face of fluctuations in food resources availability.