Differences in personality influence survival in field crickets
Thursday, April 23, 2015 - 16:00
in Biology & Nature
An individual's behaviour in risky situations is a distinct personality trait both in humans and animals that can have an immediate impact on longevity. Researchers have now found differences in personality types for the first time in a population of free living field crickets. Risk-prone individuals showed a higher mortality as they stayed more often outside their burrow where they can be easily detected by predators, compared to risk averse individuals. Moreover, shy individuals are not encountered so often by researchers, causing potential bias in collected scientific data. This methodological problem has been a neglected in many personality studies but has been accounted for uniquely in the present study.