Meeting Abstract

110.2  Tuesday, Jan. 7 08:15  Should I stay or should I go: exploration behavior in the frog Xenopus tropicalis HERREL, A.*; VIDELIER, M.; CORNETTE, R.; BONNEAUD, C.; CNRS/MNHN; CNRS/MNHN; MNHN; University of Exeter anthony.herrel@mnhn.fr

Habitat fragmentation of natural habitats takes place at an ever increasing rate. This likely imposes strong selection on the mobility of animals living in fragments in order to find mates and assure gene flow. Mobility is a complex trait involving variation in locomotor performance and exploration behavior. Yet, whether behavior and performance are coupled remains unknown for many taxa. Here we study exploration behavior and locomotor performance in an aquatic frog, Xenopus tropicalis, who’s natural habitat is being strongly fragmented. Our results show strong variation in performance and locomotor morphology between sexes and among individuals. Behavior was also variable with some individuals moving up to 76 m in one hour. Moreover, exploration behavior was highly repeatable within an individual for most variables analyzed. A Gaussian mixtures analysis of the behavioral data detected three distinct behavioral strategies varying in the degree and willingness of animals to explore a novel environment. However, these behavioral clusters were not different in overall levels of performance or underlying morphology. These data suggest that behavioral strategies may evolve independent of selection on performance and morphology providing multiple independent pathways for the evolution of high mobility.