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

Mounting evidence has shown that personality and behavioral syndromes have a substantial influence on interspecific interactions and individual fitness. However, the stability of covariation among multiple behavioral traits involved in antipredator responses has seldom been tested. Here, we investigate whether sex, gravidity, and parasite infestations influence the covariation between risk aversion (hiding time within a refuge) and escape response (immobility, escape distance) using a viviparous lizard, Zootoca vivipara, as a model system. Our results demonstrated a correlation between risk-averse and escape behavior at the among-individual level, but only in gravid females. We found no significant correlations in either males or neonates. A striking result was the loss of association in postparturition females. This suggests that the "risk-averse - escape" syndrome is ephemeral and only emerges in response to constraints on locomotion driven by reproductive burden. Moreover, parasites have the potential to dissociate the correlations between risk aversion and escape response in gravid females, yet the causal chain requires further examination. Overall, our findings provide evidence of differences in the association between behaviors within the lifetime of an individual and indicate that individual states, sex, and life stages can together influence the stability of behavioral syndromes. The correlation of behaviors involved in an antipredator response is of paramount ecological importance, as premature flight or prolonged duration of remaining in a refuge can result in a loss of potential opportunities to increase fitness. Here, using common lizards (Zootoca vivipara), we found that the "risk-taking - escape" syndrome is contingent on sex, reproductive state, and parasite infestation, suggesting that individuals with different characteristics or life stages may choose specific combinations of behavioral traits as escape tactics. Our results may, to some extent, provide explanations for optimal escape theory and emphasize the importance of shifts in individual states in the variability of behavioral syndrome.image