Decision making in dispersing Siberian flying squirrels

Abstract

How an individual selects resources of varying quality is essential for its future fitness. Decision rules that animals use to select novel items have long been studied in the context of mate and resource choice. We use this framework to study search phase of natal dispersal in the Siberian flying squirrel (Pteromys volans L.). This study gives further evidence for recent suggestion that the decision-rule framework is applicable to studies of information gathering during dispersal. We found that dispersing flying squirrels frequently revisited prospected sites, supporting comparative Bayes decision rule. However, this was the case during short-distanced dispersal, whereas long-distance dispersers used more sequential search. We suggest that although the dispersers might use comparative decision rules during short-distance prospecting around one location, it may not be advantageous to revisit previously found sites while performing long-distance movements.