Given that humans display a wide range of personality types, it might not come as a great surprise to know that scientists are finding more and more evidence to support personality types in non-human species as well. In fact, individuals across a wide range of taxa have been found to consistently differ in boldness, aggressiveness, activity level, exploration tendency, sociability, and other behaviors. These differences in personality type, both within a species and among individuals within a population, can have large effects on important ecological dynamics, such as spatial distribution (e.g., more exploratory animals may disperse farther), disease dynamics (e.g., bolder animals may be at the leading edge of disease spread), or even predator-prey dynamics.

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Jaclyn's research explored personality-dependent space-use in golden-mantled ground squirrels (Callospermophilus lateralis). 

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Jaclyn assayed individuals for personality three ways: 1. through repeated, standardized 'arena' trials, in which an ethogram of behaviors was quantified for a given individual during solitary (without mirror image) and 'social' (with mirror image) contexts, 2. through repeated Flight Initiation Distance trials, in which I approximated boldness by systematically approaching individuals in the field, and 3. though repeated 'behavior in trap' trials, in which she scored an animal's behavior for a given period of time after it was trapped. She then paired personality scores with known ecological parameters, such as home range size, movement speed, and resource use.

 

Results showed that: 

• Bolder individuals maintained larger core areas (had a larger area of concentrated space use) compared to shyer individuals

• More active and bolder individuals moved faster under natural conditions

• More proactive and sociable personality types had greater access to a preferred resource

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Overall, results support a personality-dependent use of space and resources in nature.

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Read the full paper here.