WFVX • April 8, 2022
Allison Brehm, a Ph.D. candidate in the department of wildlife, fisheries and conservation biology at the University of Maine, and a team of researchers, conducted a study to find out how individuals of a species influence their ecosystem based on their specific personality traits. According to Brehm, the study results showed deer mice who are bolder on average are more likely to cache large seeds intact, giving the seed a better chance at germinating. Timid individuals however would take the seeds to underground burrows, effectively eliminating the seed’s chance to germinate. Brehm said this relationship between the mice and the trees is called mutualism.