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Comparing the strength of behavioural plasticity and consistency across situations: animal personalities in the hermit crab Pagurus bernhardus.

ABSTRACT: Many phenotypic traits show plasticity but behaviour is often considered the 'most plastic' aspect of phenotype as it is likely to show the quickest response to temporal changes in conditions or 'situation'. However, it has also been noted that constraints on sensory acuity, cognitive structure and physiological capacities place limits on behavioural plasticity. Such limits to plasticity may generate consistent differences in behaviour between individuals from the same population. It has recently been suggested that these consistent differences in individual behaviour may be adaptive and the term 'animal personalities' has been used to describe them. In many cases, however, a degree of both behavioural plasticity and relative consistency is probable. To understand the possible functions of animal personalities, it is necessary to determine the relative strength of each tendency and this may be achieved by comparison of statistical effect sizes for tests of difference and concordance. Here, we describe a new statistical framework for making such comparisons and investigate cross-situational plasticity and consistency in the duration of startle responses in the European hermit crab Pagurus bernhardus, in the field and the laboratory. The effect sizes of tests for behavioural consistency were greater than for tests of behavioural plasticity, indicating for the first time the presence of animal personalities in a crustacean model.

SUBMITTER: Briffa M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2602678 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Comparing the strength of behavioural plasticity and consistency across situations: animal personalities in the hermit crab Pagurus bernhardus.

Briffa Mark M Rundle Simon D SD Fryer Adam A

Proceedings. Biological sciences 20080601 1640

Many phenotypic traits show plasticity but behaviour is often considered the 'most plastic' aspect of phenotype as it is likely to show the quickest response to temporal changes in conditions or 'situation'. However, it has also been noted that constraints on sensory acuity, cognitive structure and physiological capacities place limits on behavioural plasticity. Such limits to plasticity may generate consistent differences in behaviour between individuals from the same population. It has recentl ...[more]

PMID: 18331983

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Project description:Anthropogenic climate change exposes marine organisms to CO2 induced ocean acidification (OA). Marine animals may make physiological and behavioral adaptations to cope with OA. Elevated pCO2 may affect metabolism, feeding, and energy partition of marine crabs, and thereby affect their predator-prey dynamics with mussels. Therefore, we examined the effects of simulated future elevated pCO2 on feeding behavior and energy metabolism of the brown crab Cancer pagurus. Following 54 days of pre-acclimation to control CO2 levels (360 ?atm) at 11°C, crabs were exposed to consecutively increased oceanic CO2 levels (2 weeks for 1200 and 2300 ?atm, respectively) and subsequently returned to control CO2 level (390 ?atm) for 2 weeks in order to study their potential to acclimate elevated pCO2 and recovery performance. Standard metabolic rate (SMR), specific dynamic action (SDA) and feeding behavior of the crabs were investigated during each experimental period. Compared to the initial control CO2 conditions, the SMRs of CO2 exposed crabs were not significantly increased, but increased significantly when the crabs were returned to normal CO2 levels. Conversely, SDA was significantly reduced under high CO2 and did not return to control levels during recovery. Under high CO2, crabs fed on smaller sized mussels than under control CO2; food consumption rates were reduced; foraging parameters such as searching time, time to break the prey, eating time, and handling time were all significantly longer than under control CO2, and prey profitability was significantly lower than that under control conditions. Again, a two-week recovery period was not sufficient for feeding behavior to return to control values. PCA results revealed a positive relationship between feeding/SDA and pH, but negative relationships between the length of foraging periods and pH. In conclusion, elevated pCO2 caused crab metabolic rate to increase at the expense of SDA. Elevated pCO2 affected feeding performance negatively and prolonged foraging periods. These results are discussed in the context of how elevated pCO2 may impair the competitiveness of brown crabs in benthic communities.

Dataset Information

Comparing the strength of behavioural plasticity and consistency across situations: animal personalities in the hermit crab Pagurus bernhardus.

Publications

Comparing the strength of behavioural plasticity and consistency across situations: animal personalities in the hermit crab Pagurus bernhardus.

Similar Datasets

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