Experience-dependent shifts in behavioural decision-making following repeated captures in a wild mammal.

Abstract

Live trapping is central to behavioural ecology, yet whether post-capture behaviour reflects consistent among-individual differences and how it is modified by repeated captures remain poorly understood. Here, we repeatedly captured wild individuals of the rodent Apodemus mystacinus and temporarily held them in a standardised wooden experimental box. We then allowed them to voluntarily exit the box near the capture location and continuously recorded their behaviour for 5 minutes. Using multilevel, multivariate and continuous-time multi-state models, we characterise the sequence of behavioural states from confinement to escape. We also test whether capture experience reorganises individual behavioural trajectories and whether individual characteristics, such as body mass and sex, mediate behavioural transitions across capture-recapture events. We show that there is among-individual variation in the measured post-capture behaviours and that repeated captures reorganise the structure and sequential organisation of behavioural responses after individuals exit a trap. Importantly, we also show that recapture experience and body mass are associated with an increased tendency towards rapid escape. In contrast, we find that sex has no detectable effects. Our findings highlight that behaviours expressed immediately after trap release do not represent individuals' undisturbed ecological baseline, but instead experience-dependent responses shaped by individuals' cumulative history of interactions with their environment.