DOI: 10.5061/dryad.5tb2rbpbd
title: Data from: Variation in defensive and exploratory behaviors across a rattlesnake (Crotalus scutulatus × viridis) hybrid zone in southwestern New Mexico

description: Studies on individual variability and stability in behavioral types and
 syndromes—animal personalities—have surged in recent decades. Behavioral
 ecologists have an expanding appreciation for how personality traits
 mediate evolutionary processes. Research focusing on the significance of
 personality in shaping hybridization between lineages, however, is
 limited. Case studies have shown that hybridization has multiple effects
 on behavioral syndromes, including both eliminating syndromes present in
 parental lineages and generating novel syndromes within hybrids. Here, we
 assessed the behavioral types and syndromes of individuals across a
 naturally occurring rattlesnake hybrid zone (Crotalus scutulatus ×
 viridis) in southwestern New Mexico. We used behavioral assays to quantify
 defensive and explorative behaviors, and determined if behavioral types
 were correlated with spatial and hunting behaviors of free-ranging
 individuals. We found that C. viridis was more prone to rattle than C.
 scutulatus during handling tests. Similarly, hybrid individuals (C.
 scutulatus × viridis) having a higher proportion of their genome derived
 from C. viridis were also more prone to rattle. Although parental and
 hybrid snakes exhibited behavioral syndromes in defensiveness and
 exploratory behaviors, further research is necessary to determine whether
 these patterns might impact hybrid fitness by creating mismatches between
 behavioral types and predation pressures under natural conditions.
description: # Variation in defensive and exploratory behaviors across a rattlesnake
 (*Crotalus scutulatus* × *viridis*) hybrid zone in southwestern New Mexico
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.5tb2rbpbd](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.5tb2rbpbd) This dataset includes the final VCF alignment file used for hybrid index analysis, their defensive behaviors, and exploratory behaviors assayed in a laboratory setting. These data were used to quantify the behavioral types and syndromes of snakes dispersed across a hybrid zone between Mojave (*Crotalus scutulatus*) and Prairie (*C. viridis*) Rattlesnakes. The VCF alignment data were collected via raw sequence reads from DNA extractions from blood stored in lysis buffer. Behavioral data were calculated from laboratory-based assays. Prairie Rattlesnakes were more prone to rattle than Mojave Rattlesnakes during the handling tests and there was a positive relationship between this tendency and the amount of Prairie Rattlesnake derived genome in hybrid rattlesnakes. Parental and hybrid snakes both displayed behavioral syndromes; however, further research is necessary to determine how and if these syndromes impact hybrid fitness. ## Description of the data and file structure VCF alignment: This file contains the biallelic variants for all individuals used in the behavioral analyses. For all data: NA = data was not collected due to the data being not applicable (ex., NA for phase.struck.binary since the Threat Assay was not yet implemented in 2019, NAs time.spent.in.hide.box.s, times.crossed.plane_1cross, and time.spent.frozen.s_1sec for when there was a camera malfunction during the Exploratory Assay, or NA for HI_viridis_proportion due to sample failure) **snake_behaviors**: * ID = the ID of the individual - putative = the putative grouping that the snake was assigned to based on site of capture and morphology * CRSC = Crotalus scutulatus - SCVI = Hybrid * CRVI = Crotalus viridis - age = age class of the snake * a = adult - j = juvenile * sex = sex of the snake - npf = non-pregnant female * m = male - season = the year that the snake had its behaviors assayed in * HI_scutulatus_proportion = 1-HI_viridis_proportion - HI_viridis_proportion = Hybrid index based on the VCF alignment * genetic_species = which lineage the individual belonged to based on its hybrid index and the 0.05 and 0.95 cutoffs for parental groupings. - CRSC = Crotalus scutulatus * SCVI = Hybrid - CRVI = Crotalus viridis * rattled = if the snake rattled at all during the Handling Assay - phase.struck.binary = if the snake defensively struck at all during the Threat Assay * time.spent.in.hide.box.s = the total amount of time that the snake was inside one of the hideboxes for during the Exploratory Assay - times.crossed.plane_1cross = the total number of quadrant transitions that the snake made during the Exploratory Assay with “1” added since all of the snakes made an initial movement into a quadrant from their starting point * time.spent.frozen.s_1sec = the total duration that the snake spent being motionless during the Exploratory Assay with “1 second” added since all of the snakes were not continuously moving for the entire duration of the assay. **snake_behaviors_alt**: This data file was used for Tables S.1–S.3 in order to determine if removing the six snakes that we were not able to obtain HI estimates for due to extraction or sequencing failures. * ID = the ID of the individual - putative = the putative grouping that the snake was assigned to based on site of capture and morphology * CRSC = Crotalus scutulatus - SCVI = Hybrid * CRVI = Crotalus viridis - age = age class of the snake * a = adult - j = juvenile * sex = sex of the snake - npf = non-pregnant female * m = male - season = the year that the snake had its behaviors assayed in * HI_scutulatus_proportion = 1-HI_viridis_proportion - HI_viridis_proportion = Hybrid index based on the VCF alignment * genetic_species = which lineage the individual belonged to based on its hybrid index and the 0.05 and 0.95 cutoffs for parental groupings. - CRSC = Crotalus scutulatus * SCVI = Hybrid - CRVI = Crotalus viridis * rattled = if the snake rattled at all during the Handling Assay - phase.struck.binary = if the snake defensively struck at all during the Threat Assay * time.spent.in.hide.box.s = the total amount of time that the snake was inside one of the hideboxes for during the Exploratory Assay - times.crossed.plane_1cross = the total number of quadrant transitions that the snake made during the Exploratory Assay with “1” added since all of the snakes made an initial movement into a quadrant from their starting point * time.spent.frozen.s_1sec = the total duration that the snake spent being motionless during the Exploratory Assay with “1 second” added since all of the snakes were not continuously moving for the entire duration of the assay. ## Code/Software The VCF alignment data file can be accessed by software such as vcftools or bcftools.