Dataset Information

Predation risk and abiotic habitat parameters affect personality traits in extremophile populations of a neotropical fish (Poecilia vivipara).

ABSTRACT: Understanding whether and how ambient ecological conditions affect the distribution of personality types within and among populations lies at the heart of research on animal personality. Several studies have focussed on only one agent of divergent selection (or driver of plastic changes in behavior), considering either predation risk or a single abiotic ecological factor. Here, we investigated how an array of abiotic and biotic environmental factors simultaneously shape population differences in boldness, activity in an open-field test, and sociability/shoaling in the livebearing fish Poecilia vivipara from six ecologically different lagoons in southeastern Brazil. We evaluated the relative contributions of variation in predation risk, water transparency/visibility, salinity (ranging from oligo- to hypersaline), and dissolved oxygen. We also investigated the role played by environmental factors for the emergence, strength, and direction of behavioral correlations. Water transparency explained most of the behavioral variation, whereby fish from lagoons with low water transparency were significantly shyer, less active, and shoaled less than fish living under clear water conditions. When we tested additional wild-caught fish from the same lagoons after acclimating them to homogeneous laboratory conditions, population differences were largely absent, pointing toward behavioral plasticity as a mechanism underlying the observed behavioral differences. Furthermore, we found correlations between personality traits (behavioral syndromes) to vary substantially in strength and direction among populations, with no obvious associations with ecological factors (including predation risk). Altogether, our results suggest that various habitat parameters simultaneously shape the distribution of personality types, with abiotic factors playing a vital (as yet underestimated) role. Furthermore, while predation is often thought to lead to the emergence of behavioral syndromes, our data do not support this assumption.

SUBMITTER: Sommer-Trembo C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5574810 | biostudies-other | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Predation risk and abiotic habitat parameters affect personality traits in extremophile populations of a neotropical fish (<i>Poecilia vivipara</i>).

Sommer-Trembo Carolin C Petry Ana Cristina AC Gomes Silva Guilherme G Vurusic Sebastijan Martin SM Gismann Jakob J Baier Jasmin J Krause Sarah S Iorio Julia de Araujo Cardoso JAC Riesch Rüdiger R Plath Martin M

Ecology and evolution 20170718 16

Understanding whether and how ambient ecological conditions affect the distribution of personality types within and among populations lies at the heart of research on animal personality. Several studies have focussed on only one agent of divergent selection (or driver of plastic changes in behavior), considering either predation risk or a single abiotic ecological factor. Here, we investigated how an array of abiotic and biotic environmental factors simultaneously shape population differences in ...[more]

PMID: 28861258

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Project description:BACKGROUND:In the Solomon Island, the dominant malaria vector, Anopheles farauti, is highly anthropophagic and increasingly exophilic and early biting. While long-lasting insecticide-treated nets remain effective against An. farauti, supplemental vector control strategies will be needed to achieve malaria elimination. Presently, the only World Health Organization recommended supplemental vector control strategy is larval source management (LSM). Effective targeted larval source management requires understanding the associations between abiotic, chemical and biological parameters of larval habitats with the presence or density of vector larvae. METHODS:Potential and actual An. farauti larval habitats were characterized for presence and density of larvae and associated abiotic, chemical and biological parameters. RESULTS:A third of all sampled potential habitats harboured An. farauti larvae with 80% of An. farauti positive habitats being in three habitat classifications (swamps/lagoons, transient pools and man-made holes). Large swamps were the most abundant positive habitats surveyed (43% of all An. farauti positive habitats). Habitats with An. farauti larvae were significantly associated with abiotic (pH, nitrate, ammonia and phosphate concentrations and elevated temperature) and biotic (predators) parameters. CONCLUSION:Large swamps and lagoons are the largest and most abundant An. farauti habitats in the Solomon Islands. Positive habitats were more frequently associated with the presence of predators (vertebrates and invertebrates) and higher water temperatures. Cohabitation with predators is indicative of a complex habitat ecosystem and raises questions about the potential of biological control as an effective control strategy. Increased presence of An. farauti with higher water temperature suggests a potential explanation for the coastal distribution of this species which is not found inland at elevated altitudes where temperatures would be cooler.

Dataset Information

Predation risk and abiotic habitat parameters affect personality traits in extremophile populations of a neotropical fish (Poecilia vivipara).

Publications

Predation risk and abiotic habitat parameters affect personality traits in extremophile populations of a neotropical fish (<i>Poecilia vivipara</i>).

Similar Datasets

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