Bibliometric investigation of the integration of animal personality in conservation contexts.

Consistent individual differences in behavior, commonly termed animal personality, are a widespread phenomenon across taxa with important consequences for fitness, natural selection, and trophic interactions. Animal personality research may prove useful in several conservation contexts, but in which particular contexts remains to be determined. Building on a prior review of the intersections of behavioral ecology and conservation, we conducted a structured literature review of n = 654 studies combining search terms for animal personality and various conservation subfields. We also scored the relevance of both personality and conservation issues for each study to identify which studies meaningfully integrated the two fields as opposed to surface-level connections or vague allusions. We found a taxonomic bias towards mammals with very few amphibian or reptile studies applying personality research to conservation issues. Invasive species and climate change were by far the most abundant conservation subfields that occurred in our search, though a substantial proportion of these papers weakly integrated conservation and animal personality. Based on our results, we first recommend that researchers strive for consistent and broadly applicable terminology when describing consistent behavioral differences to minimize confusion and improve the searchability of research. Second, we identify several gaps in the collected literature for various taxa, personality traits, and conservation subfields that appear to be promising and fruitful avenues for future research. Finally, we recommend ways that practitioners can begin informing future conservation efforts with knowledge gained from animal personality research. Article Impact Statement: Studies integrating animal personality and conservation are exponentially increasing and reveal ways to improve future conservation efforts. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.