1
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Scherer U, Laskowski KL, Kressler MM, Ehlman SM, Wolf M, Bierbach D. Predator exposure early in life shapes behavioral development and individual variation in a clonal fish. Sci Rep 2024; 14:21668. [PMID: 39289453 PMCID: PMC11408663 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-72550-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2024] [Accepted: 09/09/2024] [Indexed: 09/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Predation risk is one of the most important factors generating behavioral differences among populations. In addition, recent attention focusses on predation as a potential driver of patterns of individual behavioral variation within prey populations. Previous studies provide mixed results, reporting either increased or decreased among-individual variation in response to risk. Here, we take an explicit developmental approach to documenting how among-individual variation develops over time in response to predator exposure, controlling for both genetic and experiential differences among individuals. We reared juveniles of naturally clonal Amazon mollies, Poecilia formosa, either with or without a predator visible during feedings over 4 weeks and analyzed activity during feedings, time spent feeding and number of visits to the feeding spot. (I) Predator-exposed fish did not differ from control fish in average feeding behavior, but they were less active during feeding trials. (II) In the absence of the predator, substantial changes in among-individual variation over time were detected: among-individual differences in feeding duration increased whereas differences in activity decreased, but there were no changes in feeder visits. In contrast, in the presence of a predator, among-individual variation in all three behaviors was stable over time and often lower compared to control conditions. Our work suggests that predation risk may have an overall stabilizing effect on the development of individual variation and that differences in predation risk may well lead to population-wide differences in among-individual behavioral variation.
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Affiliation(s)
- U Scherer
- SCIoI Excellence Cluster, Technische Universität Berlin, 10587, Berlin, Germany.
- Faculty of Life Sciences, Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, 10117, Berlin, Germany.
- Department of Fish Biology, Fisheries, and Aquaculture, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, 12587, Berlin, Germany.
| | - K L Laskowski
- Department of Fish Biology, Fisheries, and Aquaculture, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, 12587, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Evolution and Ecology, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
| | - M M Kressler
- Department of Fish Biology, Fisheries, and Aquaculture, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, 12587, Berlin, Germany
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9FE, UK
| | - S M Ehlman
- SCIoI Excellence Cluster, Technische Universität Berlin, 10587, Berlin, Germany
- Faculty of Life Sciences, Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, 10117, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Fish Biology, Fisheries, and Aquaculture, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, 12587, Berlin, Germany
| | - M Wolf
- SCIoI Excellence Cluster, Technische Universität Berlin, 10587, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Fish Biology, Fisheries, and Aquaculture, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, 12587, Berlin, Germany
| | - D Bierbach
- SCIoI Excellence Cluster, Technische Universität Berlin, 10587, Berlin, Germany
- Faculty of Life Sciences, Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, 10117, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Fish Biology, Fisheries, and Aquaculture, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, 12587, Berlin, Germany
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2
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Shephard AM, Lagon SR, Jacobsen S, Millar K, Ledón-Rettig CC. Corticosterone Contributes to Diet-Induced Reprogramming of Post-Metamorphic Behavior in Spadefoot Toads. Integr Org Biol 2024; 6:obae012. [PMID: 38707679 PMCID: PMC11067961 DOI: 10.1093/iob/obae012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2023] [Revised: 03/28/2024] [Accepted: 04/11/2024] [Indexed: 05/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Stressful experiences in early life can have phenotypic effects that persist into, or manifest during, adulthood. In vertebrates, such carryover effects can be driven by stress-induced secretion of glucocorticoid hormones, such as corticosterone, which can lead to developmental reprogramming of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal/interrenal axis activity and behavior. Nutritional stress in the form of early life nutrient restriction is well known to modify later life behaviors and stress activity through corticosterone-related mechanisms. However, it is not known whether corticosterone is also mechanistically involved in carryover effects induced by a different form of nutritional variation: the use of alternate or entirely novel types of dietary resources. The plains spadefoot (Spea bombifrons) presents an excellent system for testing this question, since larvae of this species have evolved to use 2 alternate diet types: an ancestral detritus-based diet and a more novel diet of live shrimp. While previous work has shown that feeding on the novel shrimp diet influences juvenile (i.e., post-metamorphic) behavior and corticosterone levels, it is unclear whether these diet-induced carryover effects are mediated by diet-induced corticosterone itself. To test for the mechanistic role of corticosterone in diet-induced carryover effects, we experimentally treated S. bombifrons larvae with exogenous corticosterone and measured subsequent effects on juvenile behavior and corticosterone levels. We found that while shrimp-fed larvae had elevated corticosterone levels, treatment of larvae with corticosterone itself had effects on juvenile behavior that partially resembled those carryover effects induced by the shrimp diet, such as altered food seeking and higher locomotor activity. However, unlike carryover effects caused by the shrimp diet, larval corticosterone exposure did not affect juvenile corticosterone levels. Overall, our study shows that corticosterone-related mechanisms are likely involved in carryover effects induced by a novel diet, yet such diet-induced carryover effects are not driven by corticosterone alone.
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Affiliation(s)
- A M Shephard
- Department of Biology, Indiana University Bloomington, Myers Hall, 915 East 3rd Street, Bloomington IN 47405, USA
| | - S R Lagon
- Department of Biology, Indiana University Bloomington, Myers Hall, 915 East 3rd Street, Bloomington IN 47405, USA
| | - S Jacobsen
- Department of Biology, Indiana University Bloomington, Myers Hall, 915 East 3rd Street, Bloomington IN 47405, USA
| | - K Millar
- Department of Biology, Indiana University Bloomington, Myers Hall, 915 East 3rd Street, Bloomington IN 47405, USA
| | - C C Ledón-Rettig
- Department of Biology, Indiana University Bloomington, Myers Hall, 915 East 3rd Street, Bloomington IN 47405, USA
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3
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Rickward RA, Santostefano F, Wilson AJ. Among-individual behavioural variation in the ornamental red cherry shrimp, Neocaridina heteropoda. Ecol Evol 2024; 14:e11049. [PMID: 38389999 PMCID: PMC10883255 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.11049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2023] [Revised: 02/02/2024] [Accepted: 02/05/2024] [Indexed: 02/24/2024] Open
Abstract
Personality variation, defined as among-individual differences in behaviour that are repeatable across time and context, is widely reported across animal taxa. From an evolutionary perspective, characterising the amount and structure of this variation is useful since differences among individuals are the raw material for adaptive behavioural evolution. However, behavioural variation among individuals also has implications for more applied areas of evolution and ecology-from invasion biology to ecotoxicology and selective breeding in captive systems. Here, we investigate the structure of personality variation in the red cherry shrimp, Neocaridina heteropoda, a popular ornamental species that is readily kept and bred under laboratory conditions and is emerging as a decapod crustacean model across these fields, but for which basic biological, ecological and behavioural data are limited. Using two assays and a repeated measures approach, we quantify behaviours putatively indicative of shy-bold variation and test for sexual dimorphism and/or size-dependent behaviours (as predicted by some state-dependent models of personality). We find moderate-to-high behavioural repeatabilities in most traits. Although strong individual-level correlations across behaviours are consistent with a major personality axis underlying these observed traits, the multivariate structure of personality variation does not fully match a priori expectations of a shy-bold axis. This may reflect our ecological naivety with respect to what really constitutes bolder, more risk-prone, behaviour in this species. We find no evidence for sexual dimorphism and only weak support for size-dependent behaviour. Our study contributes to the growing literature describing behavioural variation in aquatic invertebrates. Furthermore, it lays a foundation for further studies harnessing the potential of this emerging model system. In particular, this existing behavioural variation could be functionally linked to life-history traits and invasive success and serve as a target of artificial selection or bioassays. It thus holds significant promise in applied research across ecotoxicology, aquaculture and invasion biology.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Francesca Santostefano
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation University of Exeter Cornwall UK
- Département des Sciences Biologiques Université du Québec à Montréal Montréal Quebec Canada
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4
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Netz C, Ramesh A, Gismann J, Gupte PR, Weissing FJ. Details matter when modelling the effects of animal personality on the spatial distribution of foragers. Proc Biol Sci 2022; 289:20210903. [PMID: 35232236 PMCID: PMC8889198 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.0903] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Christoph Netz
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Aparajitha Ramesh
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Jakob Gismann
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Pratik R Gupte
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Franz J Weissing
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
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5
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Harrison LM, Noble DWA, Jennions MD. A meta-analysis of sex differences in animal personality: no evidence for the greater male variability hypothesis. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2021; 97:679-707. [PMID: 34908228 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12818] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2021] [Revised: 11/13/2021] [Accepted: 11/17/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
The notion that men are more variable than women has become embedded into scientific thinking. For mental traits like personality, greater male variability has been partly attributed to biology, underpinned by claims that there is generally greater variation among males than females in non-human animals due to stronger sexual selection on males. However, evidence for greater male variability is limited to morphological traits, and there is little information regarding sex differences in personality-like behaviours for non-human animals. Here, we meta-analysed sex differences in means and variances for over 2100 effects (204 studies) from 220 species (covering five broad taxonomic groups) across five personality traits: boldness, aggression, activity, sociality and exploration. We also tested if sexual size dimorphism, a proxy for sex-specific sexual selection, explains variation in the magnitude of sex differences in personality. We found no significant differences in personality between the sexes. In addition, sexual size dimorphism did not explain variation in the magnitude of the observed sex differences in the mean or variance in personality for any taxonomic group. In sum, we find no evidence for widespread sex differences in variability in non-human animal personality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren M Harrison
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, 46 Sullivans Creek Road, Canberra, ACT, 2600, Australia
| | - Daniel W A Noble
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, 46 Sullivans Creek Road, Canberra, ACT, 2600, Australia
| | - Michael D Jennions
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, 46 Sullivans Creek Road, Canberra, ACT, 2600, Australia
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6
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Hansen M, Burns A, Monk C, Schutz C, Lizier J, Ramnarine I, Ward A, Krause J. The effect of predation risk on group behaviour and information flow during repeated collective decisions. Anim Behav 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.01.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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7
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Tüzün N, Savaşçı BB, Stoks R. Seasonal time constraints shape life history, physiology and behaviour independently, and decouple a behavioural syndrome in a damselfly. OIKOS 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.07800] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Nedim Tüzün
- Evolutionary Stress Ecology and Ecotoxicology, Univ. of Leuven Leuven Belgium
| | | | - Robby Stoks
- Evolutionary Stress Ecology and Ecotoxicology, Univ. of Leuven Leuven Belgium
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8
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If you build it, they will come: Restoration positively influences free-living and parasite diversity in a restored tidal marsh. FOOD WEBS 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.fooweb.2020.e00167] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
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9
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Belgrad BA, Griffen BD. Which mechanisms are responsible for population patterns across different quality habitats? A new approach. OIKOS 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.07267] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Blaine D. Griffen
- Biology Dept, College of Life Sciences, Brigham Young Univ. Provo UT USA
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10
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DiNuzzo ER, Griffen BD. The effects of animal personality on the ideal free distribution. Proc Biol Sci 2020; 287:20201095. [PMID: 32873202 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.1095] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The ideal free distribution (IFD) has been used to predict the distribution of foraging animals in a wide variety of systems. However, its predictions do not always match observed distributions of foraging animals. Instead, we often observe that there are more consumers than predicted in low-quality patches and fewer consumers than predicted in high-quality patches (i.e. undermatching). We examine the possibility that animal personality is one explanation for this undermatching. We first conducted a literature search to determine how commonly studies document the personality distribution of populations. Second, we created a simple individual-based model to conceptually demonstrate why knowing the distribution of personalities is important for studies of populations of foragers in context of the IFD. Third, we present a specific example where we calculate the added time to reach the IFD for a population of mud crabs that has a considerable number of individuals with relatively inactive personalities. We suggest that animal personality, particularly the prevalence of inactive personality types, may inhibit the ability of a population to track changes in habitat quality, therefore leading to undermatching of the IFD. This may weaken the IFD as a predictive model moving forward.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eleanor R DiNuzzo
- Department of Biology, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA
| | - Blaine D Griffen
- Department of Biology, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA
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11
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Saxton NA, Vernier AD, Jebe MT, Griffen BD. Startle response of the invasive Asian shore crab under different environmental conditions. J ETHOL 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s10164-020-00649-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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12
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Ehlman SM, Halpin R, Jones C, Munson A, Pollack L, Sih A. Intermediate turbidity elicits the greatest antipredator response and generates repeatable behaviour in mosquitofish. Anim Behav 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2019.10.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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13
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Su X, Sun Y, Liu D, Wang F, Liu J, Zhu B. Agonistic behaviour and energy metabolism of bold and shy swimming crabs Portunus trituberculatus. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2019; 222:jeb.188706. [PMID: 30559303 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.188706] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2018] [Accepted: 12/07/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
The metabolism and behaviour of crustaceans are highly flexible, and the inter-individual variation in these traits is evolutionarily and ecologically significant. We analysed the relationships among personality traits (boldness, activity and hesitancy), agonistic behaviour and energy status (glycogen, glucose and lactate) in the swimming crab Portunus trituberculatus The main results were as follows. (1) Boldness was significantly correlated with activity and hesitancy. Bold crabs were more likely to initiate and win a fight. In bold individuals, the frequencies of 'move to', 'cheliped display', 'grasp' and 'contact' were significantly higher than those of shy individuals, whereas the frequency of 'move away' was significantly lower than that of shy individuals. (2) Before fighting, the glucose concentrations in the haemolymph of bold individuals were significantly lower than those of shy individuals, whereas the concentrations of lactate showed the opposite trend. There were no significant differences in glycogen and lactate concentrations in the claw muscle between bold and shy individuals. (3) After fighting, the glucose and lactate concentrations in the haemolymph of both bold and shy individuals were significantly higher than those before fighting. The glucose concentrations in the haemolymph were significantly higher in bold individuals than shy individuals. In addition, bold individuals showed a larger increase in glucose in the haemolymph but a smaller increase in lactate compared with shy individuals. (4) After fighting, the glycogen concentrations in the claw muscle were significantly lower than those before fighting; however, there were no significant differences in the concentrations of lactate in the claw muscle. These results indicated that the agonistic behaviour of the swimming crab is related to its behavioural type. Energy reserves may be one of the factors affecting the personality traits and agonistic behaviour in crabs. These results should lay a foundation for in-depth understanding of the relationships among crustacean personality, agonistic behaviour and metabolic physiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xianpeng Su
- Key Laboratory of Mariculture, Ministry of Education, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China.,Function Laboratory for Marine Fisheries Science and Food Production Processes, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, No. 1 Wenhai Road, Aoshanwei Town, Jimo, Qingdao 266237, China
| | - Yunfei Sun
- Centre for Research on Environmental Ecology and Fish Nutrition of Ministry of Agriculture, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, 201316, China
| | - Dapeng Liu
- Key Laboratory of Mariculture, Ministry of Education, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China.,Function Laboratory for Marine Fisheries Science and Food Production Processes, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, No. 1 Wenhai Road, Aoshanwei Town, Jimo, Qingdao 266237, China
| | - Fang Wang
- Key Laboratory of Mariculture, Ministry of Education, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China .,Function Laboratory for Marine Fisheries Science and Food Production Processes, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, No. 1 Wenhai Road, Aoshanwei Town, Jimo, Qingdao 266237, China
| | - Jingjing Liu
- Key Laboratory of Mariculture, Ministry of Education, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China.,Function Laboratory for Marine Fisheries Science and Food Production Processes, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, No. 1 Wenhai Road, Aoshanwei Town, Jimo, Qingdao 266237, China
| | - Boshan Zhu
- Key Laboratory of Mariculture, Ministry of Education, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China.,Function Laboratory for Marine Fisheries Science and Food Production Processes, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, No. 1 Wenhai Road, Aoshanwei Town, Jimo, Qingdao 266237, China
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14
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Griffen BD, Cannizzo ZJ, Gül MR. Ecological and evolutionary implications of allometric growth in stomach size of brachyuran crabs. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0207416. [PMID: 30412631 PMCID: PMC6226199 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0207416] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2018] [Accepted: 10/30/2018] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Individual characteristics often scale allometrically with organismal body size and the form of this scaling can be influenced by ecological and evolutionary factors. Examining the specific form of this scaling can therefore yield important insights into organismal ecology and evolution and the ability of organisms to respond to future environmental changes. We examine the intraspecific allometric scaling of stomach volume with body mass for 17 species of brachyuran crabs. We also examine how this scaling is influenced by dietary strategy, maximum body size, and activity level, all while controlling for phylogenetic relationships between the species. We show that the slope and intercept of the allometric scaling relationships vary across species and are influenced by all three ecological factors examined here, as well as by evolutionary relationships. These results highlight potential divergent strategies in stomach growth taken by different groups of crabs and highlight potential limitations that may be imposed on the ability of this group of organisms to respond to warming trends expected with climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Blaine D. Griffen
- Department of Biology, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Zachary J. Cannizzo
- Marine Science Program, School of the Earth, Ocean, and Environment, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, United States of America
| | - Mustafa R. Gül
- Marine Science Program, School of the Earth, Ocean, and Environment, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, United States of America
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15
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Belgrad BA, Griffen BD. Personality interacts with habitat quality to govern individual mortality and dispersal patterns. Ecol Evol 2018; 8:7216-7227. [PMID: 30073080 PMCID: PMC6065346 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.4257] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2018] [Revised: 03/21/2018] [Accepted: 05/17/2018] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Individual phenotypic differences are increasingly recognized as key drivers of ecological processes. However, studies examining the relative importance of these differences in comparison with environmental factors or how individual phenotype interacts across different environmental contexts remain lacking. We performed two field experiments to assess the concurrent roles of personality differences and habitat quality in mediating individual mortality and dispersal. We quantified the predator avoidance response of mud crabs, Panopeus herbstii, collected from low- and high-quality oyster reefs and measured crab loss in a caging experiment. We simultaneously measured the distance crabs traveled as well as the stability of personalities across reef quality in a separate reciprocal transplant experiment. Habitat quality was the primary determinant of crab loss, although the distance crabs traveled was governed by personality which interacted with habitat quality to control the fate of crabs. Here, crabs on low-quality reefs rapidly emigrated, starting with the boldest individuals, and experienced modest levels of predation regardless of personality. In contrast, both bold and shy crabs would remain on high-quality reefs for months where bolder individuals experienced higher predation risk. These findings suggest that personalities could produce vastly different population dynamics across habitat quality and govern community responses to habitat degradation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin A. Belgrad
- Marine Science ProgramSchool of Earth, Ocean, and EnvironmentUniversity of South CarolinaColumbiaSouth Carolina
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16
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17
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Belgrad BA, Griffen BD. Habitat quality mediates personality through differences in social context. Oecologia 2017; 184:431-440. [PMID: 28528392 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-017-3886-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2016] [Accepted: 05/15/2017] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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18
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Belgrad BA, Karan J, Griffen BD. Individual personality associated with interactions between physiological condition and the environment. Anim Behav 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.11.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
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19
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Belgrad BA, Griffen BD. Predator-prey interactions mediated by prey personality and predator hunting mode. Proc Biol Sci 2016; 283:rspb.2016.0408. [PMID: 27075257 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2016.0408] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2016] [Accepted: 03/21/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Predator-prey interactions are important drivers in structuring ecological communities. However, despite widespread acknowledgement that individual behaviours and predator species regulate ecological processes, studies have yet to incorporate individual behavioural variations in a multipredator system. We quantified a prevalent predator avoidance behaviour to examine the simultaneous roles of prey personality and predator hunting mode in governing predator-prey interactions. Mud crabs, Panopeus herbstii, reduce their activity levels and increase their refuge use in the presence of predator cues. We measured mud crab mortality and consistent individual variations in the strength of this predator avoidance behaviour in the presence of predatory blue crabs, Callinectes sapidus, and toadfish, Opsanus tau We found that prey personality and predator species significantly interacted to affect mortality with blue crabs primarily consuming bold mud crabs and toadfish preferentially selecting shy crabs. Additionally, the strength of the predator avoidance behaviour depended upon the predation risk from the predator species. Consequently, the personality composition of populations and predator hunting mode may be valuable predictors of both direct and indirect predator-prey interaction strength. These findings support theories postulating mechanisms for maintaining intraspecies diversity and have broad implications for community dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin A Belgrad
- Marine Science Program, at the School of Earth, Ocean and Environment, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
| | - Blaine D Griffen
- Marine Science Program, at the School of Earth, Ocean and Environment, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
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20
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Personality, foraging behavior and specialization: integrating behavioral and food web ecology at the individual level. Oecologia 2016; 182:55-69. [PMID: 27170290 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-016-3648-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 116] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2016] [Accepted: 04/28/2016] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Behavioral traits and diet were traditionally thought to be highly plastic within individuals. This view was espoused in the widespread use of optimality models, which broadly predict that individuals can modify behavioral traits and diet across ecological contexts to maximize fitness. Yet, research conducted over the past 15 years supports an alternative view; fundamental behavioral traits (e.g., activity level, exploration, sociability, boldness and aggressiveness) and diet often vary among individuals and this variation persists over time and across contexts. This phenomenon has been termed animal personality with regard to behavioral traits and individual specialization with regard to diet. While these aspects of individual-level phenotypic variation have been thus far studied in isolation, emerging evidence suggests that personality and individual specialization may covary, or even be causally related. Building on this work, we present the overarching hypothesis that animal personality can drive specialization through individual differences in various aspects of consumer foraging behavior. Specifically, we suggest pathways by which consumer personality traits influence foraging activity, risk-dependent foraging, roles in social foraging groups, spatial aspects of foraging and physiological drivers of foraging, which in turn can lead to consistent individual differences in food resource use. These pathways provide a basis for generating testable hypotheses directly linking animal personality to ecological dynamics, a major goal in contemporary behavioral ecology.
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21
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Gutowsky L, Brownscombe J, Wilson A, Szekeres P, Cooke S. Improved performance, within-individual consistency and between-individual differences in the righting behaviour of the Caribbean sea star, Oreaster reticulatus. BEHAVIOUR 2016. [DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-00003401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Individuals cope differently to challenging and stressful situations. Being inverted is challenging and stressful for animals, as the position leaves them vulnerable to predators and desiccation. Although sea star self-righting was first studied in the 19th century, efforts to quantify patterns of within-individual consistency and among-individual differences are limited. Here we examined the performance and repeatability of righting behaviour in the Caribbean sea star (Oreaster reticulatus). Oreaster reticulatus were wild caught and transported to a nearby facility where they were inverted up to five times. Most animals improved their righting times and exhibited within-individual consistency and among individual differences in righting method. We posit that it may be favourable to employ a consistent righting method to effectively achieve an upright position. Predation pressure and stress physiology are hypothesized to shape individual differences in righting behaviour. Moreover, these results provide preliminary evidence of personality in sea stars.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lee F.G. Gutowsky
- Fish Ecology and Conservation Physiology Laboratory, Department of Biology, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1S 5B6
| | - Jacob W. Brownscombe
- Fish Ecology and Conservation Physiology Laboratory, Department of Biology, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1S 5B6
| | - Alexander D.M. Wilson
- Fish Ecology and Conservation Physiology Laboratory, Department of Biology, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1S 5B6
| | - Petra Szekeres
- Fish Ecology and Conservation Physiology Laboratory, Department of Biology, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1S 5B6
| | - Steven J. Cooke
- Fish Ecology and Conservation Physiology Laboratory, Department of Biology, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1S 5B6
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22
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Toscano BJ, Monaco CJ. Testing for relationships between individual crab behavior and metabolic rate across ecological contexts. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2015. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-015-1947-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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23
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Griffen BD, Norelli AP. Spatially variable habitat quality contributes to within-population variation in reproductive success. Ecol Evol 2015; 5:1474-83. [PMID: 25897386 PMCID: PMC4395176 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.1427] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2014] [Revised: 01/21/2015] [Accepted: 01/27/2015] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Variation in habitat quality is common across terrestrial, freshwater, and marine habitats. We investigated how habitat quality influenced the reproductive potential of mud crabs across 30 oyster reefs that were degraded to different extents. We further coupled this field survey with a laboratory experiment designed to mechanistically determine the relationship between resource consumption and reproductive performance. We show a >10-fold difference in average reproductive potential for crabs across reefs of different quality. Calculated consumption rates for crabs in each reef, based on a type II functional response, suggest that differences in reproductive performance may be attributed to resource limitation in poor quality reefs. This conclusion is supported by results of our laboratory experiment where crabs fed a higher quality diet of abundant animal tissue had greater reproductive performance. Our results demonstrate that spatial variation in habitat quality can be a considerable contributor to within-population individual variation in reproductive success (i.e., demographic heterogeneity). This finding has important implications for assessing population extinction risk.
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Affiliation(s)
- Blaine D Griffen
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina Columbia, South Carolina, 29208 ; Marine Science Program, University of South Carolina Columbia, South Carolina, 29208
| | - Alexandra P Norelli
- Marine Science Program, University of South Carolina Columbia, South Carolina, 29208
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24
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25
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Kuo C, Irschick DJ, Lailvaux SP. Trait compensation between boldness and the propensity for tail autotomy under different food availabilities in similarly aged brown anole lizards. Funct Ecol 2014. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.12324] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Chi‐Yun Kuo
- The Graduate Program in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology University of Massachusetts Amherst Amherst Massachusetts 01003 USA
| | - Duncan J. Irschick
- The Graduate Program in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology University of Massachusetts Amherst Amherst Massachusetts 01003 USA
- Department of Biology University of Massachusetts Amherst Amherst Massachusetts 01003 USA
| | - Simon P. Lailvaux
- Department of Biological Sciences University of New Orleans New Orleans Louisiana 70148 USA
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26
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Japyassú HF, Malange J. Plasticity, stereotypy, intra-individual variability and personality: handle with care. Behav Processes 2014; 109 Pt A:40-7. [PMID: 25241306 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2014.09.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2014] [Revised: 09/10/2014] [Accepted: 09/10/2014] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
Only recently, variability within individuals has become of importance to evolutionary thinking. The boom in the literature on behavioural variability has led to the emergence of concepts such as behavioural plasticity, stereotypy, imprecision, and intra-individual variability (IIV). The proliferation of new terms has resulted in overlapping concepts, spreading confusion in understanding the origins of variability. Here we provide a critical overview of the concepts related to behavioural variability within the individual. We conclude that although there is no overlapping between behavioural plasticity and IIV, these concepts do overlap with stereotypy; they also face problems with ideas of abnormality and absence of function in stereotyped behaviour. We further provide a critical overview of the sometimes confusing relationship between (1) within individual variability, and (2) consistent variability across individuals (personality). We point out that personality is logically independent of both activational plasticity and IIV, because personality emerges at the population level, whereas plasticity and IIV emerge at the individual level. We conclude that, in personality studies, the failure to acknowledge the existence of either internal variability or consistent between-individual differences in internal variability will result in mixing different phenomena, and inhibit building unified accounts from heterogeneous databases.
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27
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Toscano BJ, Griffen BD. Trait-mediated functional responses: predator behavioural type mediates prey consumption. J Anim Ecol 2014; 83:1469-77. [PMID: 24749626 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12236] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2014] [Accepted: 04/11/2014] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The predator functional response (i.e. per capita consumption rate as a function of prey density) is central to our understanding of predator-prey population dynamics. This response is behavioural, depending on the rate of attack and time it takes to handle prey. Consistent behavioural differences among conspecific individuals, termed behavioural types, are a widespread feature of predator and prey populations but the effects of behavioural types on the functional response remain unexplored. We tested the effects of crab (Panopeus herbstii) behavioural type, specifically individual activity level, on the crab functional response to mussel (Brachidontes exustus) prey. We further tested whether the effects of activity level on the response are mediated by the presence of toadfish (Opsanus tau) predation threat in the form of waterborne chemical cues known to reduce crab activity level. The effects of crab activity level on the functional response were dependent on crab body size. Individual activity level increased the magnitude (i.e. slope and asymptote) of the type II functional response of small crabs, potentially through an increase in time spent foraging, but had no effect on the functional response of large crabs. Predation threat did not interact with activity level to influence mussel consumption, but independently reduced the slope of the type II functional response. Overall, this study demonstrates size-specific effects of a behavioural type on a predator-prey interaction, as well as a general pathway (modification of the functional response) by which the effects of individual behavioural types can scale up to influence predator-prey population dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin J Toscano
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA
| | - Blaine D Griffen
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA.,Marine Science Program, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA
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