Conclusion, Future Directives, Acknowledgments

• A similar number of male and female crickets exhibited bold, timid, or intermediate personalities in boldness trials.

• Significantly more bold males won fights against timid males.

• We are currently using RNAi to decrease the expression of specific immune genes to see how this knockdown may impact boldness and fighting behaviors.

• Though behaviors associated with animal personalities have been well studied, the molecular mechanisms responsible have not. A future goal is to use RNA sequencing to identify specific genes, and genetic pathways, that may contribute to bold or shy behavioral personalities. 

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2. Carter AJ, Feeney WE, Marshall, HH, Cowlishaw G, Heinsohn R. (2013). Animal personality: What are behavioural ecologists measuring? Biological Reviews 88: 465–475.

3. Wolf M, Weissing, FJ. (2012). Animal personalities: consequences for ecology and evolution. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 27(8), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.

4. Sih A, Bell A, Johnson JC, Ziemba RE (2004). Behavioral syndromes: An integrative overview. Quarterly Review of Biology 79: 241–277, https://doi.org/10.1086/422893.

This work was supported by the Miami University Department of Biology and by a USS-Hughes Summer Internship to Hope Keane.