Adult bacterial exposure increases behavioral variation and drives higher repeatability in field crickets.

ABSTRACT: Among-individual differences in behavior are now a widely studied research-focus within the field of behavioral ecology. Furthermore, elements of an animal's internal state, such as energy or fat reserves, and infection status can have large impacts on behaviors. Despite this, we still know little regarding how state may affect behavioral variation. Recent exposure to pathogens may have a particularly large impact on behavioral expression given that it likely activates costly immune pathways, potentially forcing organism to make behavioral tradeoffs. In this study we investigate how recent exposure to a common bacterial pathogen, Serratia marcescens, affects both the mean behavioral expression and the among-individual differences (i.e. variation) in boldness behavior in the field cr

SUBMITTER: DiRienzo N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5456298 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature