title: The link between behavioural type and natal dispersal propensity reveals a dispersal syndrome in a large herbivore.
abstract: When individuals disperse, they modify the physical and social composition of their reproductive environment, potentially impacting their fitness. The choice an individual makes between dispersal and philopatry is thus critical, hence a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in the decision to leave the natal area is crucial. We explored how combinations of behavioural (exploration, mobility, activity and stress response) and morphological (body mass) traits measured prior to dispersal were linked to the subsequent dispersal decision in 77 roe deer Capreolus capreolus fawns. Using an unusually detailed multi-trait approach, we identified two independent behavioural continuums related to dispersal. First, a continuum of energetic expenditure contrasted individuals of low mobility, low variability in head activity and low body temperature with those that displayed opposite traits. Second, a continuum of neophobia contrasted individuals that explored more prior to dispersal and were more tolerant of capture with those that displayed opposite traits. While accounting for possible confounding effects of condition-dependence (body mass), we showed that future dispersers were less neophobic and had higher energetic budgets than future philopatric individuals, providing strong support for a dispersal syndrome in this species.
authors.affiliation: INRA, UR35 Comportement et Ecologie de la Faune Sauvage, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, B.P. 52627, 31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France LBBE UMR5558, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 43 boulevard du 11 novembre 1918, 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex, France lucie.debeffe@gmail.com.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Debeffe
authors.affiliation: INRA, UR35 Comportement et Ecologie de la Faune Sauvage, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, B.P. 52627, 31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Morellet
authors.affiliation: INRA, UR35 Comportement et Ecologie de la Faune Sauvage, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, B.P. 52627, 31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bonnot
authors.affiliation: LBBE UMR5558, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 43 boulevard du 11 novembre 1918, 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex, France.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gaillard
authors.affiliation: INRA, UR35 Comportement et Ecologie de la Faune Sauvage, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, B.P. 52627, 31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cargnelutti
authors.affiliation: INRA, UR35 Comportement et Ecologie de la Faune Sauvage, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, B.P. 52627, 31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Verheyden-Tixier
authors.affiliation: LBBE UMR5558, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 43 boulevard du 11 novembre 1918, 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vanpé
authors.affiliation: UMR 7204 MNHN/CNRS/UPMC, Département Ecologie et Gestion de la Biodiversité, Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 4 avenue du Petit Château, 91800 Brunoy, France UMR 5175 CEFE, 1919 route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier 5, France.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Coulon
authors.affiliation: Station d'Ecologie Expérimentale du CNRS à Moulis USR 2936, 09200 Saint-Girons, France.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Clobert
authors.affiliation: CNRS, Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale, 118 route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse Cedex 9, France Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale, Université de Toulouse, 118 route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse Cedex 9, France.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bon
authors.affiliation: INRA, UR35 Comportement et Ecologie de la Faune Sauvage, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, B.P. 52627, 31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France.
authors.forename: A J M
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Hewison
mesh_terms: D063147:Animal Distribution; D000818:Animals; D001831:Body Temperature; D001835:Body Weight; D003670:Deer / Q000502:physiology*; D017753:Ecosystem; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement; D010641:Phenotype
keywords: dispersal syndrome; exploration; natal dispersal; neophobia; roe deer