Managing personalities: effects of forestry on North American red squirrel personality distributions and activity

Managed forests make up over half of forests globally, with the majority used for timber harvest. To ensure efficient forest regeneration, it is vital that we understand how different management regimes affect the behaviours of seed-dispersing and seed-predating animals. Personalities, or consistent among-individual differences in behaviour, are a key factor driving all stages of the seed selection and dispersal process, including consumption versus caching decisions, and it is therefore critical to understand how differing anthropogenic forest manipulations may shift the personality distributions of a population. Within the context of a long-term capture–mark–recapture study in Maine, U.S.A., we used standardized tests to measure personality traits of 325 individual North American red squirrels, Tamiasciurus hudsonicus , over 8 years across two contrasting silvicultural treatments and reference plots (totalling six sites). During 2 years of the study, we deployed collar-mounted light-level geolocators on 14 unique individuals to measure daily activity patterns at a 5 min resolution and distinguish between when an individual was in its nest versus out of its nest. Our analysis revealed that personality distributions measured in standardized tests differ between unmanaged and managed forests, and that certain personality traits appeared to influence free-ranging activity patterns. Specifically, both uniform and irregular shelterwood forests had lower proportions of aggressive individuals than unmanaged forests, and more exploratory individuals spent less time active per day on average. Our study adds to the growing body of research showing that anthropogenic alterations to landscapes are associated with distinct behavioural compositions. The ecological consequences of these changes must be considered, especially for rodent populations that control seed dispersal. • We tested the personality of North American red squirrels using standardized tests. • We used collar-mounted light-level geolocators to measure daily activity patterns. • Aggressive individuals were more common in unmanaged forests than in managed forests. • More exploratory individuals spent less time active per day. • Land use change can affect personality compositions, with ecological consequences.