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Hulthén K, Vinterstare J, Nilsson PA, Brönmark C. Finotypic plasticity: Predator-induced plasticity in fin size, darkness and display behaviour in a teleost fish. J Anim Ecol 2024. [PMID: 38898692 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.14130] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2023] [Accepted: 04/30/2024] [Indexed: 06/21/2024]
Abstract
Fish fins are remarkable devices of propulsion. Fin morphology is intimately linked to locomotor performance, and hence to behaviours that influence fitness, such as foraging and predator avoidance. This foreshadows a connection between fin morphology and variation in predation risk. Yet, whether prey can adjust fin morphology according to changes in perceived risk within their lifetime (a.k.a. predator-induced plasticity) remains elusive. Here, we quantify the structural size of five focal fins in crucian carp (Carassius carassius) following controlled manipulations to perceived predation risk (presence/absence of pike Esox lucius). We also assess if crucian carp respond to increased predation risk by shifts in dorsal fin colouration, and test for differences in how fish actively use their dorsal fins by quantifying the area of the fin displayed in behavioural trials. We find that crucian carp show phenotypic plasticity with regards to fin size as predator-exposed fish consistently have larger fins. Individuals exposed to perceived predation risk also increased dorsal fin darkness and actively displayed a larger area of the fin to potential predators. Our results thus provide compelling evidence for predator-induced fin enlargement, which should result in enhanced escape swimming performance. Moreover, fin-size plasticity may evolve synergistically with fin colouration and display behaviour, and we suggest that the adaptive value of this synergy is to enhance the silhouette of deep-bodied and hard-to-capture prey to deter gape-limited predators prior to attack. Together, our results provide new perspectives on the role of predation risk in development and evolution of fins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaj Hulthén
- Aquatic Ecology Unit, Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Jerker Vinterstare
- Aquatic Ecology Unit, Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - P Anders Nilsson
- Aquatic Ecology Unit, Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Christer Brönmark
- Aquatic Ecology Unit, Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
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Zamora-Camacho FJ. Keep the ball rolling: sexual differences in conglobation behavior of a terrestrial isopod under different degrees of perceived predation pressure. PeerJ 2023; 11:e16696. [PMID: 38144184 PMCID: PMC10740659 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.16696] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2023] [Accepted: 11/28/2023] [Indexed: 12/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Antipredator behaviors are theoretically subjected to a balance by which their display should be minimized when their benefits do not outweigh their costs. Such costs may be not only energetic, but also entail a reduction in the time available for other fitness-enhancing behaviors. However, these behaviors are only beneficial under predation risk. Therefore, antipredator behaviors are predicted to be maximized under strong predation risk. Moreover, predation pressure can differ among individuals according to traits such as sex or body size, if these traits increase vulnerability. Antipredator behaviors are expected to be maximized in individuals whose traits make them more conspicuous to predators. However, how sex, body size and antipredator behaviors interact is not always understood. Methods In this work, I tested the interaction between sex, body size and antipredator behavior in the common pill woodlouse (Armadillidium vulgare), which conglobate (i.e., they roll up their bodies almost conforming a sphere that conceals their appendages) in response to predator attacks. Specifically, I tested whether latency to unroll after a standardized mechanical induction was greater in animals exposed to predator chemical cues (toad feces) than in conspecifics exposed to cues of non-predatory animals (rabbits) or no chemical cues whatsoever (distilled water), incorporating sex and body mass in the analyses. Results In agreement with my prediction, latency to unroll was greater in individuals exposed to predator chemical cues. In other words, these animals engage in conglobation for longer under perceived predator vicinity. However, this result was only true for males. This sexual dimorphism in antipredator behavior could result from males being under greater predation risk than females, thus having evolved more refined antipredator strategies. Indeed, males of this species are known to actively search for females, which makes them more prone to superficial ground mobility, and likely to being detected by predators. Body size was unrelated to latency to unroll. As a whole, these results support the hypothesis that antipredator behavior is tuned to predator cues in a way consistent with a balance between costs and benefits, which might differ between the sexes.
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Berisha H, Horváth G, Fišer Ž, Balázs G, Fišer C, Herczeg G. Sex-dependent increase of movement activity in the freshwater isopod Asellus aquaticus following adaptation to a predator-free cave habitat. Curr Zool 2023; 69:418-425. [PMID: 37614916 PMCID: PMC10443615 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoac063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2022] [Accepted: 08/02/2022] [Indexed: 08/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Populations experiencing negligible predation pressure are expected to evolve higher behavioral activity. However, when sexes have different expected benefits from high activity, the adaptive shift is expected to be sex-specific. Here, we compared movement activity of one cave (lack of predation) and three adjacent surface (high and diverse predation) populations of Asellus aquaticus, a freshwater isopod known for its independent colonization of several caves across Europe. We predicted 1) higher activity in cave than in surface populations, with 2) the difference being more pronounced in males as they are known for active mate searching behavior, while females are not. Activity was assessed both in the presence and absence of light. Our results supported both predictions: movement activity was higher in the cave than in the surface populations, particularly in males. Relaxed predation pressure in the cave-adapted population is most likely the main selective factor behind increased behavioral activity, but we also showed that the extent of increase is sex-specific.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hajriz Berisha
- Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, Biological Institute, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary H-1117
| | - Gergely Horváth
- Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, Biological Institute, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary H-1117
- ELKH-ELTE-MTM Integrative Ecology Research Group, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary H-1117
| | - Žiga Fišer
- Department of Biology, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Jamnikarjeva 101, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Gergely Balázs
- Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, Biological Institute, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary H-1117
- ELKH-ELTE-MTM Integrative Ecology Research Group, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary H-1117
| | - Cene Fišer
- Department of Biology, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Jamnikarjeva 101, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Gábor Herczeg
- Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, Biological Institute, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary H-1117
- ELKH-ELTE-MTM Integrative Ecology Research Group, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary H-1117
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4
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Brand JA, Henry J, Melo GC, Wlodkowic D, Wong BBM, Martin JM. Sex differences in the predictability of risk-taking behavior. Behav Ecol 2022; 34:108-116. [PMID: 36789395 PMCID: PMC9918862 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arac105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2022] [Revised: 10/05/2022] [Accepted: 10/18/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent research has found that individuals often vary in how consistently they express their behavior over time (i.e., behavioral predictability) and suggested that these individual differences may be heritable. However, little is known about the intrinsic factors that drive variation in the predictability of behavior. Indeed, whether variation in behavioral predictability is sex-specific is not clear. This is important, as behavioral predictability has been associated with vulnerability to predation, suggesting that the predictability of behavioral traits may have key fitness implications. We investigated whether male and female eastern mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) differed in the predictability of their risk-taking behavior. Specifically, over a total of 954 behavioral trials, we repeatedly measured risk-taking behavior with three commonly used assays-refuge-use, thigmotaxis, and foraging latency. We predicted that there would be consistent sex differences in both mean-level risk-taking behavior and behavioral predictability across the assays. We found that risk-taking behavior was repeatable within each assay, and that some individuals were consistently bolder than others across all three assays. There were also consistent sex differences in mean-level risk-taking behavior, with males being bolder across all three assays compared to females. In contrast, both the magnitude and direction of sex differences in behavioral predictability were assay-specific. Taken together, these results highlight that behavioral predictability may be independent from underlying mean-level behavioral traits and suggest that males and females may differentially adjust the consistency of their risk-taking behavior in response to subtle changes in environmental conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jack A Brand
- Address correspondence to Jack A. Brand. E-mail:
| | - Jason Henry
- School of Science, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria 3083, Australia
| | - Gabriela C Melo
- School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria 3800, Australia
| | - Donald Wlodkowic
- School of Science, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria 3083, Australia
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Riesch R, Araújo MS, Bumgarner S, Filla C, Pennafort L, Goins TR, Lucion D, Makowicz AM, Martin RA, Pirroni S, Langerhans RB. Resource competition explains rare cannibalism in the wild in livebearing fishes. Ecol Evol 2022; 12:e8872. [PMID: 35600676 PMCID: PMC9109233 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.8872] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2021] [Revised: 03/10/2022] [Accepted: 04/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Rüdiger Riesch
- Department of Biological Sciences Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour Royal Holloway University of London Egham UK
| | - Márcio S. Araújo
- Instituto de Biociências Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) Rio Claro Brazil
| | - Stuart Bumgarner
- Department of Biological Sciences North Carolina State University Raleigh North Carolina USA
| | - Caitlynn Filla
- Department of Biological Sciences North Carolina State University Raleigh North Carolina USA
- Department of Anthropology University of Florida Gainesville Florida USA
| | - Laura Pennafort
- Department of Biological Sciences Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour Royal Holloway University of London Egham UK
| | - Taylor R. Goins
- Department of Biological Sciences North Carolina State University Raleigh North Carolina USA
| | - Darlene Lucion
- Department of Biological Sciences Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour Royal Holloway University of London Egham UK
| | - Amber M. Makowicz
- Department of Biological Sciences Florida State University Tallahassee Florida USA
| | - Ryan A. Martin
- Department of Biology Case Western Reserve University Cleveland Ohio USA
| | - Sara Pirroni
- Department of Biological Sciences Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour Royal Holloway University of London Egham UK
| | - R. Brian Langerhans
- Department of Biological Sciences North Carolina State University Raleigh North Carolina USA
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Vinterstare J, Ekelund Ugge GMO, Hulthén K, Hegg A, Brönmark C, Nilsson PA, Zellmer UR, Lee M, Pärssinen V, Sha Y, Björnerås C, Zhang H, Gollnisch R, Herzog SD, Hansson LA, Škerlep M, Hu N, Johansson E, Langerhans RB. Predation risk and the evolution of a vertebrate stress response: Parallel evolution of stress reactivity and sexual dimorphism. J Evol Biol 2021; 34:1554-1567. [PMID: 34464014 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13918] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2020] [Accepted: 08/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Predation risk is often invoked to explain variation in stress responses. Yet, the answers to several key questions remain elusive, including the following: (1) how predation risk influences the evolution of stress phenotypes, (2) the relative importance of environmental versus genetic factors in stress reactivity and (3) sexual dimorphism in stress physiology. To address these questions, we explored variation in stress reactivity (ventilation frequency) in a post-Pleistocene radiation of live-bearing fish, where Bahamas mosquitofish (Gambusia hubbsi) inhabit isolated blue holes that differ in predation risk. Individuals of populations coexisting with predators exhibited similar, relatively low stress reactivity as compared to low-predation populations. We suggest that this dampened stress reactivity has evolved to reduce energy expenditure in environments with frequent and intense stressors, such as piscivorous fish. Importantly, the magnitude of stress responses exhibited by fish from high-predation sites in the wild changed very little after two generations of laboratory rearing in the absence of predators. By comparison, low-predation populations exhibited greater among-population variation and larger changes subsequent to laboratory rearing. These low-predation populations appear to have evolved more dampened stress responses in blue holes with lower food availability. Moreover, females showed a lower ventilation frequency, and this sexual dimorphism was stronger in high-predation populations. This may reflect a greater premium placed on energy efficiency in live-bearing females, especially under high-predation risk where females show higher fecundities. Altogether, by demonstrating parallel adaptive divergence in stress reactivity, we highlight how energetic trade-offs may mould the evolution of the vertebrate stress response under varying predation risk and resource availability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jerker Vinterstare
- Aquatic Ecology Unit, Ecology Building, Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Gustaf M O Ekelund Ugge
- Aquatic Ecology Unit, Ecology Building, Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.,School of Bioscience, University of Skövde, Skövde, Sweden
| | - Kaj Hulthén
- Aquatic Ecology Unit, Ecology Building, Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Alexander Hegg
- Aquatic Ecology Unit, Ecology Building, Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Christer Brönmark
- Aquatic Ecology Unit, Ecology Building, Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Per Anders Nilsson
- Aquatic Ecology Unit, Ecology Building, Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Ursula Ronja Zellmer
- Animal Ecology, Department of Ecology and Genetics, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Marcus Lee
- Aquatic Ecology Unit, Ecology Building, Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Varpu Pärssinen
- Aquatic Ecology Unit, Ecology Building, Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Yongcui Sha
- Aquatic Ecology Unit, Ecology Building, Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Caroline Björnerås
- Aquatic Ecology Unit, Ecology Building, Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Huan Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology of China, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China
| | - Raphael Gollnisch
- Aquatic Ecology Unit, Ecology Building, Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Simon D Herzog
- Aquatic Ecology Unit, Ecology Building, Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Lars-Anders Hansson
- Aquatic Ecology Unit, Ecology Building, Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Martin Škerlep
- Aquatic Ecology Unit, Ecology Building, Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Nan Hu
- Aquatic Ecology Unit, Ecology Building, Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Emma Johansson
- Aquatic Ecology Unit, Ecology Building, Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Randall Brian Langerhans
- Department of Biological Sciences, W.M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
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Predation shapes behavioral lateralization: insights from an adaptive radiation of livebearing fish. Behav Ecol 2021. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arab098] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Hemispheric brain lateralization can drive the expression of behavioral asymmetry, or laterality, which varies notably both within and among species. To explain these left–right behavioral asymmetries in animals, predator-mediated selection is often invoked. Recent studies have revealed that a relatively high degree of lateralization correlates positively with traits known to confer survival benefits against predators, including escape performance, multitasking abilities, and group coordination. Yet, we still know comparatively little about 1) how consistently predators shape behavioral lateralization, 2) the importance of sex-specific variation, and 3) the degree to which behavioral lateralization is heritable. Here, we take advantage of the model system of the radiation of Bahamas mosquitofish (Gambusia hubbsi) and measure behavioral lateralization in hundreds of wild fish originating from multiple blue holes that differ in natural predation pressure. Moreover, we estimated the heritability of this trait using laboratory-born fish from one focal population. We found that the degree of lateralization but not the particular direction of lateralization (left or right) differed significantly across high and low predation risk environments. Fish originating from high-predation environments were more strongly lateralized, especially females. We further confirmed a genetic basis to behavioral lateralization in this species, with significant additive genetic variation in the population examined. Our results reveal that predation risk represents one key ecological factor that has likely shaped the origin and maintenance of this widespread behavioral phenomenon, even potentially explaining some of the sex-specific patterns of laterality recently described in some animals.
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