The pace-of-life syndrome in Eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus)

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Melanie Dammhahn
• Subject Area: Sensory and Behavioural Biology
• Term: from 2012 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 232457798

The general aim of this project is to test mechanistic links between behavioural, physiological and life-history traits at the intra-specific level. Based on a heuristic theoretical framework these traits coevolved as response to long-term selection pressures forming the pace-of-life syndrome. Although powerful relationships between life-history and physiological traits have been demonstrated between species, it remains open whether (2) these relationships exist as well among individuals within populations and (2) intrinsic differences in behaviour are part of the pace-of-life syndrome. Furthermore, the directions of functional relationships between important parts of the pace-of-life syndrome are not well resolved. In this project, I will focus on a key pace-of-life axis and test specific predictions of two contrasting hypotheses on the links between energy metabolism, behavioural phenotype and life-history in a small rodent species, the Eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus). In a field approach, I will quantify individual variation in personality traits, resting metabolic rate, daily energy expenditure and activity patterns as well as torpor expression. These data will be supplemented with long-term information on individual variation in energy metabolism, behavioural phenotype and life-history traits of members of the study population. Prospective results will (1) allow formulation of specific hypotheses about the proximate mechanisms and causal relationships between metabolic engine and individual performance and (2) help to illuminate whether coevolution with physiological and life-history traits might also maintain personality variation in a population. Furthermore, data collected in this project will contribute to further clarification on the evolutionary processes that shaped trait associations in the pace-of-life syndrome based on a quantitative genetic approach as part of the long-term project.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: Canada
• Host: Professor Dr. Denis Reale