Data from: Be meek or be bold? A colony-level behavioural syndrome in ants

Consistent individual variation in animal behaviour is nearly ubiquitous and has important ecological and evolutionary implications. Behaviour has been proposed to be the result of independent behavioural categories, or axes, which have broadly been used to describe both human and non-human animal behaviour. Additionally, behavioural syndromes, or correlated suites of behaviours, are often described by testing for variation in traits across commonly described axes (e.g. classical behavioural syndromes), independent of whether this variation is ecologically relevant to the focal species. Here, we use a variety of ecologically relevant behaviours to test for a colony level behavioural syndrome in rock ants (Temnothorax rugatulus). Specifically, we combine field and lab assays to measure foraging effort, how colonies respond to different types of resources, activity level, response to threat, and aggression level. We find evidence for a colony level syndrome that suggests colonies consistently differ in coping style – some are more risk-prone, whereas others are more risk-adverse. Additionally, by collecting data across the North American range of this species, we show that environmental variation may affect how different populations maintain consistent variation in colony behaviour.