Does Animal Personality Affect Movement in Habitat Corridors? Experiments with Common Voles (Microtus arvalis) Using Different Corridor Widths

摘要

Simple SummaryAn animal’s personality may affect how they move and what risks they take while they are moving within a landscape. Understanding the movement constraints of wildlife is of increasing importance in fragmented landscapes. We investigated how rodents of opposing personality types moved through two experimental corridors of differing widths. We tracked the voles with automated radio telemetry and quantified the effects of personality on movement. While personality measures did not predict movement patterns, voles in the narrow corridor system entered the corridor faster and spent less time in the corridor than those in the wide corridor. Thus, it may be impossible to detect differences in the risk-taking behavior of small rodents based on personality types if their perceived predation risk is too high. Regarding corridors, our results suggest that the widely held principle that wider is better may not hold true if the fast exchange between populations individuals is the designated function of the corridor.