Sex- and state-dependent covariation of risk-averse and escape behavior in a widespread lizard

<p>Mounting evidence has show<span>n</span> that personality and behavioral syndromes have a substantial influence on <span>interspecific interactions</span> and <span>individual </span>fitness. However, the stability of <span>covariation among multiple behavioral traits involved in antipredator responses</span> <span>has seldom been tested</span>. Here, we <span>investigate whether </span>sex, <span>gravidity</span>, and parasit<span>e infestations influence</span> <span>the covariation</span> <span>between</span> <span>risk-aversion</span> <span>(hiding time within a refuge) </span>and <span>escape</span> <span>response (immobility, escape distance)</span> using a viviparous lizard<span>,</span> <em>Zootoca vivipara</em><span> as a model system. Our results</span> <span>demonstrated a correlation between risk-averse and escape behavior at the among-individual level, but </span>only <span>in</span> <span>gravid</span> females<span>. We found no significant correlations in either males or neonates</span>. <span>A striking result was the loss of the association in post-parturition females. </span>Th<span>is</span> <span>suggests</span> that the <span>'risk-averse</span> – <span>e</span>scape<span>'</span> syndrome <span>is ephemeral and only emerges in response to constraints on locomotion driven by reproductive burden.</span> <span>Moreover</span>, parasites have the potential to disassociate the<span> correlations between</span> <span>risk-aversion and </span>escape <span>response</span> in <span>gravid</span> females, <span>yet the causal chain requires further examination</span>. <span>Overall, o</span>ur findings provide evidence of differences in the association <span>between</span> <span>behaviors within the life-time of an individual</span> and <span>indicate</span> that <span>individual states, sex and life stages can together</span> influence the stability of behavioral syndromes.</p>