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Kästner N, Richter SH, Gamer M, et al. What a difference a day makes-female behaviour is less predictable near ovulation. R Soc Open Sci. 2017;4(4):160998doi: 10.1098/rsos.160998.
Kästner, N., Richter, S. H., Gamer, M., Kaiser, S., & Sachser, N. (2017). What a difference a day makes-female behaviour is less predictable near ovulation. Royal Society open science, 4(4), 160998. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160998
Kästner, Niklas, et al. "What a difference a day makes-female behaviour is less predictable near ovulation." Royal Society open science vol. 4,4 (2017): 160998. doi: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160998
Kästner N, Richter SH, Gamer M, Kaiser S, Sachser N. What a difference a day makes-female behaviour is less predictable near ovulation. R Soc Open Sci. 2017 Apr 12;4(4):160998. doi: 10.1098/rsos.160998. eCollection 2017 Apr. PMID: 28484619; PMCID: PMC5414256.
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R Soc Open Sci. 2017 Apr 12;4(4):160998. doi: 10.1098/rsos.160998. eCollection 2017 Apr.

What a difference a day makes-female behaviour is less predictable near ovulation.

Royal Society open science

Niklas Kästner, S Helene Richter, Matthias Gamer, Sylvia Kaiser, Norbert Sachser

Affiliations

  1. Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.
  2. Münster Graduate School of Evolution, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.
  3. Experimental Clinical Psychology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.

PMID: 28484619 PMCID: PMC5414256 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.160998

Abstract

'Animal personalities' have been shown to exist in many species. Yet, fluctuations in the stability of these inter-individual behavioural differences are not well understood. Against this background, we wondered whether behavioural consistency over time is affected by the reproductive cycle. Female mice were tested twice at an interval of eight weeks in four paradigms assessing social interest as well as anxiety-like behaviour and exploratory locomotion. Twenty-two individuals were tested repeatedly near ovulation, whereas another twenty-two were tested repeatedly in the non-receptive phase. While we found no major behavioural effects at the group level, the reproductive state indeed had profound effects on behavioural stability over time: social interest as well as anxiety-like behaviour proved to be significantly less predictable near ovulation. It is generally believed that phenotypic plasticity is limited due to the costs it brings about. In this context, our data indicate that females accept higher costs in phases directly related to fitness maximization.

Keywords: animal personality; anxiety-like behaviour; females; mice; reproductive cycle; social interest

Conflict of interest statement

We declare we have no competing interests.

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