Urban Individuals of Three Rove Beetle Species Are Not More Exploratory or Risk-Taking Than Rural Conspecifics.

Abstract

Simple SummaryUrbanization-derived disturbances and threats, as well as changes in environmental and habitat parameters act as selection pressures on various features of urban-dwelling animals, including their behavior. Earlier studies on vertebrates showed that urban individuals are more exploratory and bolder than their rural counterparts. Similar analyses on invertebrates are rare, therefore we studied the exploratory and risk-taking behavior of individuals of three rove beetle species from rural and urban populations during their main reproductive period. Beetles of all three studied species responded consistently in the different behavioral tests. The exploratory behavior of beetles was consistent over time indicating the existence of personalities, but did not differ in differently urbanized habitats. Ocypus nitens males, however, were significantly more exploratory than females which can be explained by the active searching of males for mating partners.Urbanization is creating changes in environmental and habitat conditions, as well as creating disturbance and threats to urban-associated species. Some traits, such as high exploratory and risk-taking behavior, are beneficial to allow colonization of urban habitats and coping with urbanization-derived pressures. In this study the exploratory and risk-taking behavior of rural and urban individuals of three forest-associated rove beetle species were tested during their main reproductive period by five frequently used behavioral measures. Individuals of all studied species were similarly ranked by all behavioral measures, indicating that the studied rove beetles responded consistently in the different contexts. However, the behavior of beetles was consistent over time for all/most studied species only by using two measures of exploratory behavior. These provide evidence for the existence of the exploratory dimension of personality in rove beetles. We found a higher exploratory behavior in males than females in Ocypus nitens which can be explained by the active searching of males for mating partners. There were no urbanization-related differences in the exploratory behavior of individuals, suggesting that behavioral changes (being more exploratory) may not yield additional fitness benefits in these rove beetle species with good dispersal capacity.