Meeting Abstract
Adaptive animal behavior must often balance the rigidity of behavioral type (a.k.a., animal personality or consistent inter-individual variation in behavior) with the flexibility of behavioral plasticity. Although individual environmental factors influence behavioral plasticity across taxa, animals live in complex environments wherein multiple environmental factors vary simultaneously. Thus, we investigated the independent and interactive effects of temperature and energy intake on the boldness and feeding behavior of juvenile corn snakes (Pantherophis guttatus) in the context of global climate change (GCC). Unlike previous studies that imposed constant or fluctuating temperature regimes on animals, we manipulated the availability of preferred thermal microclimates (control vs. warmer-than-preferred regimes) for eight weeks and allowed individuals to behaviorally thermoregulate among microclimates. By also controlling for energy intake and each animal’s initial (pre-study) behavior, we demonstrate context-specific effects of temperature and energy on behavioral plasticity. Temperature and energy intake independently affected feeding behavior where snakes reared in warm regimes and those with high energy intake exhibited a greater feeding propensity. Yet, temperature and energy interactively affected boldness in an open arena. Clearly, complex environments can exert multifaceted effects on behavior after accounting for inter-individual differences in behavior (e.g., behavioral type). Therefore, we advocate for continued investigation into the consequences of GCC-relevant, complex (multi-factorial) environments on behavioral plasticity.
