Effects Of Personality On Food Hoarding Of Large Field Mouse (Apodemus Peninsulae)

The personality refers to that animals exhibit consistent individual differences in behaviour over time and by environmental change,and it is inherited steadily.Studies have shown that personality plays an important role in the field adaptation of individuals.And it has become a hot topic at home and abroad,including ecology and evolutionary biology.Food hoarding is an adaptive behavioral strategy for rodents to make full use of resources in response to periodic food shortages.Food hoarding can improve the survival rate and reproductive success rate of animals,and many rodents and birds have food hoarding behavior.There are also many factors affecting animal feeding and food hoarding,such as the size of seeds,the heterogeneous,the age of rodents and sex,the spatial memory of animal,inter-species competition,predation risk and so on.But there is no report on the relationship between food hoarding behavior and personality.To clarify the relationship between them will be helpful to uncover the differences between individuals,and will enrich the theory of animal and plant relations.In this study,we chose Large field mice(Apodemus peninsulae),a typical forest mouse,as the experiment object to understand the influence of personality on the mouse motor ability,the food hoarding behavior,the seed recovery of different burial depth.The results and content of the experiments are as follows:1)The personality analysis of the Large field miceWhen the personality score is higher,the motor ability of rodent is more preeminent.When the average personality score was-61.54,the total distance of movement was 1499.69 cm,and the time of fast movement was 11.19 s,and the time slow movement was 21.52 s,and the average speed was 2.5 cm/s,and the max speed was 68.38 cm/s.When the personality score was-26.75,the average total distance ofmovement was 2568.73 cm,and the fast moving time was 25.57 s,and the slow motion time was 41.97 s,and the average speed was 4.24 cm/s,and the max speed was 101.7 cm/s.when the personality score was 30.01,the average total distance of motion was 9744.16 cm,and the fast moving time and slow moving time was 126.39 s and 121.70 s,and the average speed was 16.24 cm/s,and the max speed was 141.02cm/s.when the personality score was 68.84,the average total distance of movement was 14459.60 cm,and the fast moving time and slow moving time was 182.55 s and151.28 s,and the average speed was 23.77 cm/s,and the max speed was 160.26 cm/s.The score of personality were positively correlated with the total motion distance,the fast moving time,slow moving time,the average speed and the max speed;While the personality of the mice were negatively correlated with their resting time,and the higher personality score meant the shorter rest time.When the average score of personality was-61.54,the average resting time was 567.47 s;when the score of personality was-26.75,the average resting time was 535.67 s.When the score of personality was 30.01,the average resting time was 351.93 s.When the average score of personality was 68.84,the average resting time was 272.98 s.2)The influence of personality on food hoarding behaviorWhen average score of personality was-61.54,rodents dispersed 2.33 seeds,stored 0 seeds,discarded 0.33 seeds,ate 0.66 seeds in nest,and ate 1.33 seeds outside nest.When the average score of personality was-25.22,rodents dispersed 5.33 seeds,stored 2.1 seeds,discarded 0.16 seeds,ate 1 seeds in nest,and ate 2 seeds outside nest.When the average score of personality was 24.91,the rodents dispersed 7.5 seeds,stored 3.75 seeds,discarded 1.5 seeds,ate 1 seeds in nest,and ate 1.25 seeds outside nest.When the average score of personality was 65.16,rodents dispersed 9 seeds,stored 3.6 seeds,discarded 1.4 seeds,ate 1.4 seeds in nest,and ate 2.6 seeds outside nest.The personality score were positively correlated with dispersed seeds,hoarded seeds,discarded seeds,and eaten seeds in nest and outside.By the increase of personality score,more seeds were dispersed,hoarded,eaten and discarded by rodents.3)The influence of personality on the discovery of buried seedsWhen the seeds were buried in 0.5 cm depth,all mice were able to discover the seeds,and the difference was not obvious.When the seeds were buried in 1 cm and 2cm depth,the personality were positively correlated with the seeds discovery by rodents.For the seeds buried in 3 cm depth,the mice in different personality have the obvious difference in discovering the buried seeds.When the seeds were buried in4 cm depth,only high personality score individuals can discover the seeds.When the personality score was-61.54,rodents ate 1.33 seeds and discarded 4.33 seeds.When the personality score was-28.46,rodents ate 1.2 seeds and discarded 7.2 seeds.When the personality score was 24.91,rodents ate 2.5 seeds and discarded 5 seeds.When the personality score was was 67.15,rodents ate 3.25 seeds and discarded 10.5 seeds.The personality was positively correlated with the seeds eaten and the number of abandoned seeds.The higher personality score individuals have stronger ability in discovering seeds.In addition,the rodents with higher personality ate and discarded more seeds than the lower score individuals.4)The family similar in personality and athletic ability of rodentsFrom family D1,D2,D3,D4,D5,we calculated and compared the variation coefficient of personality,movement distance,resting time,fast time,slow time,average speed and max speed.The results showed that the family variation coefficient is lower than the control group,though the variation coefficient of family D2 was higher than control group.The results meant that the personality of rodents and their athletic ability have obvious family resemblance.The main conclusions of this study are as follows:1)The higher personality score means stronger motion ability.The personality of the Large field mice is positively correlated with their athletic ability.2)The higher personality score indicated that the more seeds were dispersed,hoarded,eaten and discarded.3)The higher personality score individuals have stronger ability in discovering seeds.And they ate and discarded more seeds than the lower score individuals.4)The personality and athletic ability of rodents were similar in family.To sum up,by the increase of personality score,the motion ability,food hoarding behavior and the discovery ability were all enhanced.Besides,in the same family,the individuals have the similar abilities.This study investigated the influence of personality on food hoarding,and it not only enriches the theory of rodent behavior,but also provides more reference for the theoretical research on the influence of personality on biological evolution and ecology.