Environmental differences affect the evolution of animals’ life history strategies. For animals with wide distributional ranges and the corresponding habitat diversity, life history strategies of different populations can differ notably. Personality, as a part of the life history, reflects the adaptation patterns of animals to the environment. Previous studies showed that there were significant differences in life history strategies of plateau pikas at different altitudes. However, it remains unclear whether there were differences in the personality and the correlations between personality and energy metabolism of plateau pikas at different altitudes. Between September and October 2018, exploration and resting metabolic rates (RMR) of plateau pikas were measured in Guinan County at an altitude of 3268 m and in Maqin County at an altitude of 3980 m, respectively. The results showed that, compared with low altitude pikas, high altitude male pikas had lower exploration while high altitude female pikas had higher mass-corrected RMR. For high altitude plateau pikas, we found significantly positive correlations between exploration and mass-corrected RMR in females, but negative correlations between exploration and body mass in males. However, for low altitude plateau pikas, no significant correlations were detected between exploration and mass-corrected RMR or body mass. The results suggested that, adjusting of personality and energy metabolism and their correlations may be one of the life history strategies of plateau pikas to adapt to the distinct environmental conditions at different altitudes regions.

环境的差异影响动物种群生活史对策的进化。对地理分布范围广的物种而言，栖息地环境差异大，不同种群的生活史对策亦存在显著差异。个性特征作为生活史的一部分，反映了动物对环境的适应模式。前期研究表明，不同海拔区域的高原鼠兔的生活史对策存在显著差异，然而，其个性特征及与能量代谢的关联性是否也存在差异，目前尚不清楚。2018年9—10月，分别在海拔3268 m的贵南县和3980 m的玛沁县测定当地高原鼠兔的探究性与静止代谢率。结果发现，高海拔雄性高原鼠兔的探究性显著低于低海拔雄性个体；高海拔雌性高原鼠兔体重矫正静止代谢率显著高于低海拔雌性个体。高海拔地区，雌性高原鼠兔的探究性和体重矫正静止代谢率呈显著正相关，雄性高原鼠兔的探究性和体重呈显著负相关；低海拔地区，高原鼠兔的探究性和体重矫正静止代谢率或体重之间均无显著相关性。该结果

表明，调整个性特征和能量代谢及其两者的关联性也是高原鼠兔适应不同海拔栖息地环境差异的生活史对策之一。