Behavioural consequences of an artificial introduction of guppies (Poecilia reticulata) in N. Trinidad: evidence for the evolution of anti-predator behaviour in the wild

Abstract

Experimental transplants are a particularly effective way of assessing the significance of natural selection in the wild and have been successfully employed in the past to determine how the colour patterns and life histories of guppies, Poecilia reticulata , in Trinidad, evolve in response to predation. In this paper we investigate an existing inter-drainage transplant of guppies, undertaken by C. P. Haskins in 1957, to ascertain whether a change in predation pressure also leads to changes in behaviour. We show that inherited behaviour patterns, specifically schooling and predator inspection, are modified by selection. In addition, we document inter-drainage differences in behaviour that cannot readily be attributed to variation in predation regime.