The consistency of exploration behaviours across life stages in a native Australian rodent, the fawn-footed mosaic-tailed rat Melomys cervinipes

Rowell, Misha, and Rymer, Tasmin L. (2023) The consistency of exploration behaviours across life stages in a native Australian rodent, the fawn-footed mosaic-tailed rat Melomys cervinipes. Behavioural Processes, 207. 104857.

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Abstract

Many species show inter-individual variation in exploratory behaviours that are consistent over time, reflecting a personality. Differences in exploration can affect how individuals acquire resources and use their environment. However, few studies have considered whether exploratory behaviours are consistent across developmental life stages, such as when individuals disperse out the natal territory or when they become sexually mature. We therefore investigated the consistency of exploration behaviours towards a novel object and novel environment in a native Australian rodent, the fawn-footed mosaic-tailed rat Melomys cervinipes across development. Individuals were tested in an open field test and novel object test for five trials across four different life stages (pre-weaning, recently weaned, independent juvenile, sexually mature adult). We found that individual mosaic-tailed rats were consistent in their exploration of novel objects over these life stages, as these behaviours were repeatable and did not change across testing replicates. However, how individuals explored novel environments was not repeatable and changed across development, with exploration peaking during the independent juvenile stage. These results suggest that the way an individual interacts with novel objects may be somewhat constrained by genetic or epigenetic effects early in development, whereas spatial exploration could be more flexible to facilitate developmental shifts, such as dispersal. The life stage of an animal should therefore be taken into consideration when assessing personality in different species.

Item ID: 78336
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1872-8308
Keywords: Novel object test, Ontogeny, Open field test, Personality, Repeatability
Copyright Information: © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Date Deposited: 02 May 2023 02:26
FoR Codes: 31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3109 Zoology > 310901 Animal behaviour @ 70%
31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3109 Zoology > 310903 Animal developmental and reproductive biology @ 30%
SEO Codes: 28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280102 Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences @ 100%
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