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The relationship between personality and basal metabolic rate in Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus)

‘Animal personality’ refers to individual behavioural differences that are consistent over time and context. Physiological constraints are suggested to underlie this constraint in behavioural plasticity. As energy is required for physiological processes that generate behaviour, energy metabolism could be a proximate explanation for personality. Currently, the most coherent framework linking behaviour, metabolism and life history-traits is still poorly tested empirically, and studies are showing contradicting results. Therefore, I here aim to explore this relationship further by investigating the relationship between basal metabolic rate (BMR) and personality in Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus). Birds used had known responses in personality assays, and their metabolic rates were measured by determining oxygen consumption in standardized conditions throughout the night using an open respirometry system. BMR was negatively correlated with time spent foraging, and positively correlated with time spent being vigilant. Considering foraging an ‘activity’ (due to its energy-demand), my results support the allocation model, a model that assumes that an animal has a fixed amount of energy, thus that an energetic trade-off occur between competing energy requiring processes such as BMR and activity. Hence, an animal with low BMR has more energy to spend on activity. However, I do not consider vigilance as an energy-demanding activity; hence this relationship cannot be interpreted in this framework. Taken together, my results show a relationship between personality and BMR, although their relationship still needs further investigation to understand the causality and consequences of it.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:liu-96369
Date January 2013
CreatorsNäsström, Åsa
PublisherLinköpings universitet, Biologi, Linköpings universitet, Tekniska högskolan
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text
Formatapplication/pdf
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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