Flexible males, reactive females: faecal glucocorticoid metabolites indicate increased stress in the colonist population, damping with time in males but not in females

Surkova, Elena N.; Savinetskaya, Ludmila E.; Khropov, Ivan S.; Tchabovsky, Andrey V.

doi:10.1007/s00360-024-01564-2

Cited by 3 publications

References 53 publications

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Flexible males, proactive females: increased boldness/exploration damping with time in male but not female colonists

Tchabovsky,

Surkova,

Savinetskaya

et al. 2024

R. Soc. Open Sci.

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Individuals colonizing new areas during range expansion encounter challenging and unfamiliar environments, suggesting that colonists should differ in behavioural traits from residents of source populations. The colonizer syndrome is supposed to be associated with boldness, exploration, activity and low sociability. We assessed spatial and temporal variation of the colonizer syndrome in an expanding population of midday gerbils ( Meriones meridianus ). Male-first colonists did not differ significantly from residents of the source population, whereas female-first colonists were bolder, faster and more explorative than females from the source population. These findings support a boldness/exploration syndrome as a typical colonizer trait, which appears to be restricted to females in midday gerbils. Males and females also differed in behavioural dynamics after colony establishment. In males, boldness/exploration/sociability peaked in newly founded colonies, then sharply decreased in subsequent generations consistently with decreasing environmental uncertainty in ageing colonies. In females, greater boldness/exploration did not diminish with time post-colonization, i.e. female colonists retained the bold/explorative phenotype in subsequent generations despite facing a less challenging environment. Thus, female colonists, unlike males, carry a specialized behavioural colonizer phenotype corresponding to a proactive behavioural coping strategy. We link sex differences in behavioural traits of colonists to sex-specific life-history strategies.

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Flexible males, proactive females: increased boldness/exploration damping with time in male but not female colonists

Tchabovsky,

Surkova,

Savinetskaya

et al. 2024

R. Soc. Open Sci.

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Flexible males, proactive females: personality tests show increased boldness/exploration in colonists damping with time in males but not in females

Tchabovsky,

Surkova,

Savinetskaya

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Individuals colonizing new areas at expanding ranges encounter challenging and unfamiliar environments, suggesting that colonists should differ in behavioural traits from the residents of the source populations. The colonizer syndrome is supposed to be associated with boldness, exploration, activity, and low sociability. We assessed spatial and temporal variation in the colonizer syndrome in the expanding population of midday gerbils (Meriones meridianus). Male first colonists tended to be faster and bolder than residents, although the difference was not significant. Female first colonists were bolder, faster and more explorative than residents. These findings support boldness/exploration syndrome as a typical colonizer trait, which appears to be restricted to females in midday gerbils. Males and females also differed in the behavioural dynamics post-colony establishment. In males, boldness/exploration/sociability peaked in newly founded colonies, then sharply decreased in subsequent generations following decreasing environmental uncertainty in aging colonies. In females, increased boldness/exploration did not lower with time post-colonization, i.e. female colonists retained bold/explorative phenotype in subsequent generations despite facing a less challenging environment. Thus, female colonists, unlike males, carry a specialized behavioural colonizer phenotype corresponding to a proactive behavioural coping strategy. We link sex differences in behavioural traits of colonists to the sex-specific life-history strategies.

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Does the Colonizing Population Exhibit a Reduced Genetic Diversity and Allele Surfing? A Case Study of the Midday Gerbil (Meriones meridianus Pallas) Expanding Its Range

Batova,

Markov,

Titov

et al. 2024

Animals

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Colonizing populations at the leading edge of range expansion are expected to have a reduced genetic diversity and strong genetic structure caused by genetic drift and allele surfing. Until now, few studies have found the genetic signatures of allele surfing in expanding wild populations. Using mtDNA markers, we studied the genetic structure of the population of midday gerbils (Meriones meridianus) expanding their range to the west in Kalmykia (southern Russia) following the new cycle of desertification, re-colonizing areas abandoned in the mid-2010s. In the colonizing population, we found a reduced genetic diversity, the redistribution of haplotype frequencies—in particular, in favor of variants rare in the core population—and strong genetic structure combined with strong differentiation from the core population—patterns suggestive of allele surfing on the wave of expansion. In terms of genetic diversity and spatial structuration, the western edge population sampled in 2008 before its collapse in 2017 occupies the intermediate position between the current colonizing and core population. This suggests that reduced genetic diversity and increased genetic differentiation are general features of marginal populations, enhanced by the founder and allele-surfing effects at the leading edges of expanding ranges.

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Flexible males, reactive females: faecal glucocorticoid metabolites indicate increased stress in the colonist population, damping with time in males but not in females

Cited by 3 publications

References 53 publications

Flexible males, proactive females: increased boldness/exploration damping with time in male but not female colonists

Flexible males, proactive females: increased boldness/exploration damping with time in male but not female colonists

Flexible males, proactive females: personality tests show increased boldness/exploration in colonists damping with time in males but not in females

Does the Colonizing Population Exhibit a Reduced Genetic Diversity and Allele Surfing? A Case Study of the Midday Gerbil (Meriones meridianus Pallas) Expanding Its Range

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