bioRxiv Science⌕ Search
Home/Archive/bioRxiv

bioRxiv · 10.1101/2025.03.12.642745

Adaptive behavioural strategies to seasonal challenges by a semi-urban feral ungulate

Bhattacharjee, D.·Flay, K. J.·Mumby, H. S.·McElligott, A. G.
View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Seasonality, or temporal shifts between wet and dry seasons, profoundly affects the behavioural ecology of animals, particularly large herbivores, in (sub-) tropical climatic conditions. Behavioural strategies are crucial for overcoming challenges associated with seasonality. Group-level strategies to seasonality in the wild have received considerable attention, yet little is known about how large herbivores in human-dominated landscapes respond to seasonal challenges. Moreover, focusing solely on groups can obscure how individual animals of different sexes, ages, and personalities respond. We investigated a semi-urban feral population of a large ungulate, the water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) (N=71) during a wet and a dry season. Individual body condition was non-invasively assessed to evaluate whether seasonality impacts physiology. To identify behavioural strategies, we collected data on feeding (grazing and browsing) and space use (core area and home range). Further, using a subset (n=30), we investigated the associations between personality and space use in the dry season. Body condition scores were highest during the wet season and then declined during the dry season, indicating an impact of seasonality on physiology. Older individuals were more affected than younger ones. Browsing increased during the dry compared to the wet season. While there was no change in core area use, home ranges expanded in the dry compared to the wet season. Regardless of season, females utilised home ranges larger than males. Females exhibiting higher social tension personalities had smaller core areas and home ranges than those with lower social tension. We show that buffalo employ behavioural strategies to overcome challenges associated with seasonality, and these strategies are contingent on intrinsic factors: sex, age, and personality. Our findings offer insights into the ecological principles -habitat use, resource utilisation, and competition- that govern the behavioural ecology of herbivores, and have implications for conservation and welfare in increasingly human-dominated and climate-sensitive landscapes.

Explore related subjects

zoologyPreprint

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Bhattacharjee, D., Flay, K. J., Mumby, H. S., McElligott, A. G.. 2025-03-14. Adaptive behavioural strategies to seasonal challenges by a semi-urban feral ungulate. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.03.12.642745

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related preprints

bioRxiv2026

Comparing the Influence of Habitat Configuration on Population Connectivity and Genetic Structure Using Congeneric Species Across Multiple Taxa

Abstract Habitat configuration influences population connectivity and, consequently, genetic structure. River networks provide heterogeneous, hierarchically arranged environments that shift drastically from upstream to downstream. We compared congeneric species across Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera, emphasizing longitudinal replacement (upstream to downstream) and the rarely studied wet rock (hygropetric) habitats. We surveyed six rivers on the Muroto Peninsula, Japan, qualitatively sampling aquatic insects at 63 sites. Cluster analysis based on the environmental data classified surveyed sites into four clusters. We analyzed a total of 10 species from four genera that exhibit longitudinal replacement patterns within genera. Genetic analyses based on the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I region revealed that upstream species showed higher genetic diversity than downstream species. In contrast, species adapted to hygropetric exhibited the lowest genetic differentiation among all habitat types. A novel contribution of this study is the inclusion of hygropetric species. The surprisingly low differentiation in hygropetric species suggests high connectivity, similar to lentic species. By comparing congeneric taxa across orders within environmentally similar rivers, we reduce phylogenetic and environmental confounds, strengthening inference that habitat configuration and dispersal traits jointly shape genetic structure. These findings provide a new perspective on riverine spatial ecology and underscore the importance of microhabitat-aware comparisons for evolutionary inference.

zoology↗
bioRxiv2026

Late lactation represents the main window for sow-to-piglet transmission of persistent gut strains

The gut microbiota plays a key role in piglet health, and maternal microbial transmission may represent a promising lever to shape early-life microbiota and prevent post-weaning digestive disorders. This study aimed to better characterize sow-to-piglet microbiota transmission and persistence using a long-read metabarcoding approach targeting the 16S-ITS-23S region. Fecal samples (n = 204) were collected from 17 families, a family being as sow and three of her piglets, at multiple stages: late gestation (G110), early (L6) and late lactation (L28) for sows; early lactation (L6), late lactation (L28), and 5 days post-weaning for piglets. To approximate strain-level resolution, a putative strain (PS) approach was developed by clustering ASVs (n = 6064) affiliated with the same species based on abundance covariance (r > 0.9), resulting in 4857 PS. Piglet microbiota progressively diversified during lactation and converged toward that of sow. In sows, 27 {+/-} 6% of PS were persistent from late gestation to late lactation. In piglets, only 4.2 {+/-} 2.5% of PS persisted from d6 to 5 days post-weaning. Persistent PS in piglets were mainly affiliated with Limosilactobacillus reuteri and Lactobacillus amylovorus followed with Holdemanella porci and H. biformis, Lentihominibacter hominis and Dorea formicigenerans. Shared PS were significantly higher within families than between unrelated pairs (p < 0.05). Maternal transmission peaked at the end of lactation (35 {+/-} 7% at L28). Persistent transmitted PS represented 2.7 {+/-} 1.6% (d6-post-weaning) and 15.4 {+/-} 5.6% (d28-post-weaning). Early-transmitted persistent PS were mainly affiliated with Limosilactobacillus reuteri, Lactobacillus amylovorus, and Paraeggerthella hominis, whereas late-transmitted persistent PS were associated with Prevotella spp., Sphaerochaeta globosa, and Bariatricus comes. These findings highlight the significance of maternal transmission in shaping the post-weaning microbiota and identify late lactation as a critical window for microbiota transfer.

zoology↗
bioRxiv2026

RISC-Bound Small RNA Sequencing Provides Insights into Guide Strand Selection and siRNA Trimming and Tailing Following Insecticidal dsRNA Delivery

RNA interference (RNAi) offers a sequence-specific approach to pest control. In insects, Dicer-2 processes double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) into small interfering RNA (siRNA) duplexes, from which the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) retains a guide strand. Only antisense-loaded RISC can mediate cleavage of the target transcript. However, how sequence features shape the RISC-bound siRNA pool in pests remains poorly understood, limiting opportunities for sequence optimization. Here, we profiled RISC-bound siRNAs following injection of 34 insecticidal dsRNAs targeting 11 essential genes in Tribolium castaneum larvae. We computationally reconstructed 7,879 siRNA pairs and examined associations between sequence features and strand bias. Differences in GC identity at terminal paired positions 1 to 5, used as a proxy for local thermodynamic asymmetry, correlated with strand bias, with the strongest correlations at the first two paired positions. ORF targeting and reduced predicted antisense self-folding were also associated with higher antisense fractions. Analysis of non-templated terminal additions revealed predominantly 3-prime uridylation, a known signature of small RNA turnover, along with putative 3-prime trimming. Among ORF-associated siRNA pairs, sense strands showed higher relative U-tailing abundance, based on 3-prime uridylated and putatively trimmed-and-3-prime-uridylated reads relative to perfect 21-nt reads, than antisense strands. Antisense strands with the least predicted self-folding also showed low relative U-tailing abundance. These observations are consistent with sequence-dependent contributions from both guide-strand selection and differential post-RISC-loading siRNA retention, although a causal link remains to be established. The identified associations provide a basis for testing whether dsRNA sequence optimization can improve pest control efficacy and reduce off-target activity.

zoology↗