{"title":"Frequency jumps and subharmonic components in calls of female Odorrana tormota differentially affect the vocal behaviors of male frogs","authors":"Yatao Wu, Xiuli Luo, Pan Chen, Fang Zhang","doi":"10.1186/s12983-023-00517-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12983-023-00517-9","url":null,"abstract":"Studies have demonstrated that the sounds of animals from many taxa with nonlinear phenomena (NLP)—caused by nonlinear characteristics of vocal organ dynamics that lead to nonlinear vocal phenomena—can influence the behavior of receivers. However, the specific functions of different NLP components have received less attention. In most frog species, females produce few or no vocalizations; in contrast, female Odorrana tormota exhibit a diverse range of calls that are rich in NLP components. Previous field playbacks have shown that the female calls can elicit responses from male frogs. Therefore, we conducted a phonotaxis experiment to investigate the differential effects of different NLP calls by female O. tormota on the vocal behavior of male frogs. The results revealed that calls with subharmonics elicited a greater number of short calls and answering calls from male frogs compared to calls with frequency jumps. However, calls with frequency jumps triggered more staccato calls from males than calls with subharmonics. Additionally, during the phonotaxis experiments, we recorded the initial vocalizations of males in response to playbacks of female calls. The majority of males first produced short calls. Under calls with frequency jumps, most of male frogs approaching within 10 cm of the loudspeaker produced staccato calls instead of “meow” calls or short calls. While under calls with subharmonics, most male frogs preferred to produced short calls. Our findings demonstrate that frequency jumps and subharmonic components in the calls of female O. tormota have different effects on male vocal behaviors. The current study lays a foundation for a further understanding of the function of anuran NLP components.","PeriodicalId":55142,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138550792","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
David Romero, Raúl Maneyro, José Carlos Guerrero, Raimundo Real
{"title":"Using fuzzy logic to compare species distribution models developed on the basis of expert knowledge and sampling records","authors":"David Romero, Raúl Maneyro, José Carlos Guerrero, Raimundo Real","doi":"10.1186/s12983-023-00515-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12983-023-00515-x","url":null,"abstract":"Experts use knowledge to infer the distribution of species based on fuzzy logical assumptions about the relationship between species and the environment. Thus, expert knowledge is amenable to fuzzy logic modelling, which give to propositions a continuous truth value between 0 and 1. In species distribution modelling, fuzzy logic may also be used to model, from a number of records, the degree to which conditions are favourable to the occurrence of a species. Therefore, fuzzy logic operations can be used to compare and combine models based on expert knowledge and species records. Here, we applied fuzzy logic modelling to the distribution of amphibians in Uruguay as inferred from expert knowledge and from observed records to infer favourable locations, with favourability being the commensurable unit for both kinds of data sources. We compared the results for threatened species, species considered by experts to be ubiquitous, and non-threatened, non-ubiquitous species. We calculated the fuzzy intersection of models based on both knowledge sources to obtain a unified prediction of favourable locations. Models based on expert knowledge involved a larger number of variables and were less affected by sampling bias. Models based on experts had the same overprediction rate for the three types of species, whereas models based on species records had a lower prediction rate for ubiquitous species. Models based on expert knowledge performed equally as well or better than corresponding models based on species records for threatened species, even when they had to discriminate and classify the same set of records used to build the models based on species records. For threatened species, expert models predicted more restrictive favourable territories than those predicted based on records. Observed records generated the best-fitted models for non-threatened non-ubiquitous species, and ubiquitous species. Fuzzy modelling permitted the objective comparison of the potential of expert knowledge and incomplete distribution records to infer the territories favourable for different species. Distribution of threatened species was able to be better explained by subjective expert knowledge, while for generalist species models based on observed data were more accurate. These results have implications for the correct use of expert knowledge in conservation planning.","PeriodicalId":55142,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138544691","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Wencke Krings, Daniel Konn-Vetterlein, Bernhard Hausdorf, Stanislav N Gorb
{"title":"Holding in the stream: convergent evolution of suckermouth structures in Loricariidae (Siluriformes).","authors":"Wencke Krings, Daniel Konn-Vetterlein, Bernhard Hausdorf, Stanislav N Gorb","doi":"10.1186/s12983-023-00516-w","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12983-023-00516-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Suckermouth armoured catfish (Loricariidae) are a highly speciose and diverse freshwater fish family, which bear upper and lower lips forming an oral disc. Its hierarchical organisation allows the attachment to various natural surfaces. The discs can possess papillae of different shapes, which are supplemented, in many taxa, by small horny projections, i.e. unculi. Although these attachment structures and their working mechanisms, which include adhesion and interlocking, are rather well investigated in some selected species, the loricariid oral disc is unfortunately understudied in the majority of species, especially with regard to comparative aspects of the diverse oral structures and their relationship to the ecology of different species. In the present paper, we investigated the papilla and unculi morphologies in 67 loricariid species, which inhabit different currents and substrates. We determined four papilla types and eight unculi types differing by forms and sizes. Ancestral state reconstructions strongly suggest convergent evolution of traits. There is no obvious correlation between habitat shifts and the evolution of specific character states. From handling the structures and from drying artefacts we could infer some information about their material properties. This, together with their shape, enabled us to carefully propose hypotheses about mechanisms of interactions of oral disc structures with natural substrates typical for respective fish species.</p>","PeriodicalId":55142,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10691160/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138464552","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Markéta Sasínková, Ondřej Balvín, Jana Vandrovcová, Christian Massino, Alfons R Weig, Klaus Reinhardt, Oliver Otti, Tomáš Bartonička
{"title":"Despite genetic isolation in sympatry, post-copulatory reproductive barriers have not evolved between bat- and human-associated common bedbugs (Cimex lectularius L.).","authors":"Markéta Sasínková, Ondřej Balvín, Jana Vandrovcová, Christian Massino, Alfons R Weig, Klaus Reinhardt, Oliver Otti, Tomáš Bartonička","doi":"10.1186/s12983-023-00514-y","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12983-023-00514-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The common bedbug Cimex lectularius is a widespread ectoparasite on humans and bats. Two genetically isolated lineages, parasitizing either human (HL) or bat (BL) hosts, have been suggested to differentiate because of their distinct ecology. The distribution range of BL is within that of HL and bedbugs live mostly on synanthropic bat hosts. This sympatric co-occurrence predicts strong reproductive isolation at the post-copulatory level.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We tested the post-copulatory barrier in three BL and three HL populations in reciprocal crosses, using a common-garden blood diet that was novel to both lineages. We excluded pre-copulation isolation mechanisms and studied egg-laying rates after a single mating until the depletion of sperm, and the fitness of the resulting offspring. We found a higher sperm storage capability in BL, likely reflecting the different seasonal availability of HL and BL hosts. We also observed a notable variation in sperm function at the population level within lineages and significant differences in fecundity and offspring fitness between lineages. However, no difference in egg numbers or offspring fitness was observed between within- and between-lineage crosses.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Differences in sperm storage or egg-laying rates between HL and BL that we found did not affect reproductive isolation. Neither did the population-specific variation in sperm function. Overall, our results show no post-copulatory reproductive isolation between the lineages. How genetic differentiation in sympatry is maintained in the absence of a post-copulatory barrier between BL and HL remains to be investigated.</p>","PeriodicalId":55142,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2023-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10636883/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72212109","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Comparative metabolomics analysis reveals high-altitude adaptations in a toad-headed viviparous lizard, Phrynocephalus vlangalii.","authors":"Xuejing Zhang, Shengkang Men, Lun Jia, Xiaolong Tang, Kenneth B Storey, Yonggang Niu, Qiang Chen","doi":"10.1186/s12983-023-00513-z","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12983-023-00513-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Extreme environmental conditions at high altitude, such as hypobaric hypoxia, low temperature, and strong UV radiation, pose a great challenge to the survival of animals. Although the mechanisms of adaptation to high-altitude environments have attracted much attention for native plateau species, the underlying metabolic regulation remains unclear. Here, we used a multi-platform metabolomic analysis to compare metabolic profiles of liver between high- and low-altitude populations of toad-headed lizards, Phrynocephalus vlangalii, from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. A total of 191 differential metabolites were identified, consisting of 108 up-regulated and 83 down-regulated metabolites in high-altitude lizards as compared with values for low-altitude lizards. Pathway analysis revealed that the significantly different metabolites were associated with carbohydrate metabolism, amino acid metabolism, purine metabolism, and glycerolipid metabolism. Most intermediary metabolites of glycolysis and the tricarboxylic acid cycle were not significantly altered between the two altitudes, but most free fatty acids as well as β-hydroxybutyric acid were significantly lower in the high-altitude population. This may suggest that high-altitude lizards rely more on carbohydrates as their main energy fuel rather than lipids. Higher levels of phospholipids occurred in the liver of high-altitude populations, suggesting that membrane lipids may undergo adaptive remodeling in response to low-temperature stress at high altitude. In summary, this study demonstrates that metabolic profiles differ substantially between high- and low-altitude lizard populations, and that these differential metabolites and metabolic pathways can provide new insights to reveal mechanisms of adaptation to extreme environments at high altitude.</p>","PeriodicalId":55142,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2023-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10621141/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71429289","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Quanxiao Liu, Tereza Ilčíková, Mariia Radchenko, Markéta Junková, Marek Špinka
{"title":"Effects of reduced kinematic and social play experience on affective appraisal of human-rat play in rats.","authors":"Quanxiao Liu, Tereza Ilčíková, Mariia Radchenko, Markéta Junková, Marek Špinka","doi":"10.1186/s12983-023-00512-0","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12983-023-00512-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Play is a common and developmentally important behaviour in young mammals. Specifically in Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus), reduced opportunity to engage in rough-and-tumble (RT) play has been associated with impaired development in social competence. However, RT play is a complex behaviour having both a kinematic aspect (i.e., performing complex 3D manoeuvres during play fights) and a social aspect (interacting with a playful partner). There has been little research so far on disentangling the two aspects in RT play, especially on how these two aspects affect the affective appraisal of the intense physical contact during play.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>To examine the developmental effects of kinematic and social play reduction on affective appraisal in rats, we subjected male Long-Evans rats from 21 days old to RT play experience that was reduced either kinematically (through playing in a low ceiling environment) or socially (through playing with a less playful Fischer-344 rat). Starting at 35 days, we measured their production of positively (50-kHz) and negatively (22-kHz) valenced ultrasonic vocalisations (USVs) in a 2-min standardised human-rat play procedure that mimicked the playful sequences of nape contact, pinning, and belly stimulation ('tickling') for ten days. We hypothesised that the rats with kinematically or socially reduced play would perceive the 'tickling' less positively and thus emit positive ultrasonic vocalisations at lower rates compared to control rats with non-reduced play experience. Our results confirmed that each of the treatments reduced play differently: while the kinematic reduction abolished playful pinnings entirely, the social reduction decreased the pinnings and made play highly asymmetric. During the tickling procedure, rats mostly produced 50 kHz USV, indicating that they appraised the procedure as positive. There was a wide inter individual variance and high individual consistency in rats' USV responses to 'tickling'. Crucially, neither the kinematically nor the socially reduced play experience affected either type of USV production when rats were 'tickled'.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This finding indicates that the ability to appraise play-like interactions as positive remains unaffected even when the kinematic or the social aspect of play experience was substantially curtailed.</p>","PeriodicalId":55142,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2023-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10568924/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41220621","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Joanna T Bialas, Joachim Siekiera, Artur Siekiera, Wiesław Chromik, Łukasz Dylewski, Marcin Tobolka
{"title":"Age, brood fate, and territory quality affect nest-site fidelity in white stork Ciconia ciconia.","authors":"Joanna T Bialas, Joachim Siekiera, Artur Siekiera, Wiesław Chromik, Łukasz Dylewski, Marcin Tobolka","doi":"10.1186/s12983-023-00506-y","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12983-023-00506-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>A particular type of site fidelity is faithfulness to the nest site, where birds are not only reoccupying breeding territories but also reusing nests built in previous breeding seasons. Staying faithful to the nest site is believed to be an adaptive strategy, and based on the ability to predict an individual's own breeding success, a hypothesis of \"win-stay:loose-switch\" was proposed. In this study, we aimed to resolve which factors affect the nest-site fidelity of white stork Ciconia ciconia, species known for reusing nests available in the breeding sites. Basing on ring recoveries from 31 years of studies in Western and Southern Poland, we analysed the impact of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on nest-site fidelity.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We found that increasing age and breeding success (i.e. producing any fledglings or not) increased the probability of reusing the nest, but in the oldest individuals, the probability decreased. In turn, the probability of breeding success increased with age, the increasing number of reproductive events on the particular nest, and the presence on the nest in the previous year. However, the oldest individuals had lower probability of success, as the relationship was curvilinear. The number of fledglings, however, was influenced only by an individual's age. The number of reproductive events on the nest was, in turn, affected by age, with the youngest and oldest individuals using the current nest for the least number of years.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our study shows that the decision process of whether to stay faithful to the nest or switch is based on the experience from the previous breeding event, consistently with the \"win-stay:loose-switch\" hypothesis. Our results also show that site fidelity benefits white storks, as the probability of breeding success increases if the nest is reused. Results also show the senescence effect that lowers breeding success and site fidelity probabilities.</p>","PeriodicalId":55142,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2023-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10512545/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41172708","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Evolutionary trade-off between innate and acquired immune defences in birds.","authors":"Piotr Minias, Wei-Xuan V-H Peng, Kevin D Matson","doi":"10.1186/s12983-023-00511-1","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12983-023-00511-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The development, maintenance, and use of immune defences are costly. Therefore, animals face trade-offs in terms of resource allocation within their immune system and between their immune system and other physiological processes. To maximize fitness, evolution may favour investment in one immunological defence or subsystem over another in a way that matches a species broader life history strategy. Here, we used phylogenetically-informed comparative analyses to test for relationships between two immunological components. Natural antibodies and complement were used as proxies for the innate branch; structural complexity of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) region was used for the acquired branch.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We found a negative association between the levels of natural antibodies (i.e., haemagglutination titre) and the total MHC gene copy number across the avian phylogeny, both at the species and family level. The family-level analysis indicated that this association was apparent for both MHC-I and MHC-II, when copy numbers within these two MHC regions were analysed separately. The association remained significant after controlling for basic life history components and for ecological traits commonly linked to pathogen exposure.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Our results provide the first phylogenetically robust evidence for an evolutionary trade-off within the avian immune system, with a more developed acquired immune system (i.e., more complex MHC architecture) in more derived bird lineages (e.g., passerines) being accompanied by an apparent downregulation of the innate immune system.</p>","PeriodicalId":55142,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2023-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10486109/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10189700","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Support for a radiation of free-living flatworms in the African Great Lakes region and the description of five new Macrostomum species.","authors":"Jeremias N Brand","doi":"10.1186/s12983-023-00509-9","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12983-023-00509-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The African Great Lakes have long been recognized as an excellent location to study speciation. Most famously, cichlid fishes have radiated in Lake Tanganyika and subsequently spread into Lake Malawi and Lake Victoria, where they again radiated. Other taxa have diversified in these lakes, such as catfish, ostracods, gastropods, and Monegenean gill parasites of cichlids. However, these radiations have received less attention, and the process leading to their speciation in this unique region remains to be further explored. Here I present evidence that suggests a radiation of Macrostomum flatworms has occurred in the African Great Lakes region, offering a good opportunity for such investigations.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Recent field work has revealed a monophyletic clade of 16 Macrostomum flatworms that have, to date, only been collected from Lake Tanganyika. Additionally, a species collected from Lake Malawi was found nested within this clade. Molecular phylogenetic analysis, largely based on transcriptome data, suggests that this clade underwent rapid speciation, possibly due to a large habitat diversity in the lake. I also observed significant differences in the sperm morphology of these flatworms compared to those of species found outside Lake Tanganyika and Lake Malawi. These included the elongation of an anterior structure, a reduction in the size of the lateral sperm bristles, and changes in relative proportions. I propose functional hypotheses for these changes in sperm design, and formally describe Macrostomum gracilistylum sp. nov from Lake Malawi and its sister species Macrostomum crassum sp. nov., Macrostomum pellitum sp. nov., Macrostomum longispermatum sp. nov., and Macrostomum schäreri sp. nov., from Lake Tanganyika.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The available evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that Macrostomum flatworms have radiated in Lake Tanganyika and subsequently spread to Lake Malawi. However, whether this represents a bona fide adaptive radiation still needs to be determined. Therefore, the African Great Lakes are promising targets for further research into flatworm diversity and speciation.</p>","PeriodicalId":55142,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2023-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10478486/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10170526","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Chunlin Li, Xinyu Zhang, Lin Cheng, Baowei Zhang, Feng Zhang
{"title":"Food patch use of Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) varies with personality traits.","authors":"Chunlin Li, Xinyu Zhang, Lin Cheng, Baowei Zhang, Feng Zhang","doi":"10.1186/s12983-023-00510-2","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12983-023-00510-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The classic optimal foraging theory (OFT) predicts animals' food patch use assuming that individuals in a population use the same strategy while foraging. However, due to the existence of animal personality, i.e. repeatable inter-individual differences and intra-individual consistency in behaviours over time and/or across contexts, individuals often exhibit different behavioural strategies, challenging the basic assumptions of the OFT. Here, we tested whether personality traits (boldness and exploration in open arena) of Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica, 38 females and 34 males) influenced their patch use in two foraging experiments with different inter-patch distances (i.e. 2 m in Experiment 1 and 3 m in Experiment 2).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The total feeding time and food intake of individuals did not differ between Experiment 1 and 2, but in both experiments, proactive (i.e. bolder and more explorative) individuals had longer feeding time and higher food intake than reactive individuals. In Experiment 1, proactive quails changed patches more frequently and had shorter mean patch residence time than reactive individuals, while the effects were not significant in Experiment 2. The quails reduced patch residence time along with feeding, and this trend was weakened in Experiment 2 which had longer inter-patch distance.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The above results suggest that personality traits affect animals' patch use, while the effects might be weakened with longer inter-patch distance. Our study highlights that animal personality should be considered when investigating animals' foraging behaviours because individuals may not adopt the same strategy as previously assumed. Furthermore, the interaction between personality traits and inter-patch distances, which is related to movement cost and capacity of information gathering, should also be considered.</p>","PeriodicalId":55142,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2023-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10468902/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10150264","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}