Individual Behavioral Phenotypes of the Cliff Chipmunk (Tamias dorsalis): Effects on Female Reproductive Success and Juvenile Habitat Selection

Abstract

Differences among individual responses to behavioral stimuli have been observed throughout a variety of taxa and these individual differences can affect female reproductive success and juvenile settlement decisions. In this study, we examined the effect of reversed sexual dimorphism on behavior phenotype and the effect of behavior on maternal reproductive success and juvenile dispersal of a fossorial rodent (Tamias dorsalis) in southeastern Arizona. We found that multiple behavioral phenotypes existed within this population and female litter size was not affected by behavioral type. We also found that natal habitat preference induction (NHPI) does occur at the population level, but only weakly occurs for the individual. We also found no effect of personality on site selection. Our results indicate that sex and mass may explain differences in behavioral phenotypes; however, individual behavioral differences are weakly related to female reproductive success and settlement decisions during juvenile dispersal.