ABS 2023
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Personality in the Chalk-browed Mockingbird: The Role of Risk Aversion in the Face of Predation
MARIA DEL ROSARIO JACOBY, JUAN CARLOS REBOREDA, VANINA DAFNE FIORINI. Departamento de Ecolog�a, Gen�tica y Evoluci�n, IEGEBA - CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

The costs produced by predators on the reproductive success of birds can be reduced through different behaviors. We studied the influence of personality on the reproductive success of Chalk-browed Mockingbirds (Mimus saturninus). We conducted tests of neophobia and risk aversion�in�pairs of�breeding�mockingbirds and analyzed the association between these traits and nest depredation during the fledgling stage. The study was conducted during the breeding seasons of 2021 and 2022 in open woodlands of Buenos Aires province, Argentina. Successful pairs showed lower risk aversion than pairs from nests that were depredated (P=0.04, n=18 pairs), but there were no differences in neophobia between pairs of successful and depredated nests (P=0.39, n=14 pairs). Our results highlight the importance of some personality traits like risk aversion on the reproductive success of mockingbirds. Future studies may help to understand how differences in risk aversion behavior translate into lower nest depredation.