Individual consistency in the behaviors of newly-settled reef fish.

James R. White,Mark G. Meekan,Mark I. McCormick

doi:10.7717/peerj.961

James R. White, Mark G. Meekan + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.961

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Journal: PeerJ	Publication Date: May 14, 2015
Citations: 47	License type: cc-by

Affiliation: James Cook University, University of Western Australia

Abstract

Flexibility in behavior is advantageous for organisms that transition between stages of a complex life history. However, various constraints can set limits on plasticity, giving rise to the existence of personalities that have associated costs and benefits. Here, we document a field and laboratory experiment that examines the consistency of measures of boldness, activity, and aggressive behavior in the young of a tropical reef fish, Pomacentrus amboinensis (Pomacentridae) immediately following their transition between pelagic larval and benthic juvenile habitats. Newly-settled fish were observed in aquaria and in the field on replicated patches of natural habitat cleared of resident fishes. Seven behavioral traits representing aspects of boldness, activity and aggression were monitored directly and via video camera over short (minutes), medium (hours), and long (3 days) time scales. With the exception of aggression, these behaviors were found to be moderately or highly consistent over all time scales in both laboratory and field settings, implying that these fish show stable personalities within various settings. Our study is the first to examine the temporal constancy of behaviors in both field and laboratory settings in over various time scales at a critically important phase during the life cycle of a reef fish.

Highlights

There has been considerable interest in, and evidence for, consistent patterns in the behaviors of individual animals within a species over the last decade (Dall, Houston & McNamara, 2004; Sih, Bell & Johnson, 2004; Sih et al, 2004; Dingemanse & Reale, 2005; Bell, 2007; Reale et al, 2007; Smith & Blumstein, 2008; Bell, Hankison & Laskowski, 2009)
Adopting a certain behavioral phenotype can have both costs and benefits, for example, highly aggressive female fishing spiders (Dolomedes triton) are more successful at acquiring food in a competitive environment, but this aggression can be detrimental in another context such as when it leads to precopulatory sexual cannibalism (Johnson & Sih, 2005)
Consistent patterns in behavior among individuals can lead to trade-offs in aspects of fitness, which can influence population dynamics, community structure, and species diversity (Pruitt, Grinsted & Settepani, 2013; Mittelbach et al, 2014)

Summary

Introduction

There has been considerable interest in, and evidence for, consistent patterns in the behaviors of individual animals within a species over the last decade (Dall, Houston & McNamara, 2004; Sih, Bell & Johnson, 2004; Sih et al, 2004; Dingemanse & Reale, 2005; Bell, 2007; Reale et al, 2007; Smith & Blumstein, 2008; Bell, Hankison & Laskowski, 2009). Differences in the amount of aggressive, exploratory and bold behaviors among individuals have been shown to be widespread and heritable (Boake, 1994; Stirling, Reale & Roff, 2002; Kolliker, 2005; Van Oers et al, 2005; Reale et al, 2007) across a diverse array of taxa (Dingemanse & Reale, 2005; Smith & Blumstein, 2008) and to influence survival (Downes, 2002; Dingemanse et al, 2004), reproductive success (Both et al, 2005; Sih & Watters, 2005; Pruitt & Ferrari, 2011), resource acquisition (Webster, Ward & Hart, 2009) and growth. Consistent patterns in behavior among individuals can lead to trade-offs in aspects of fitness, which can influence population dynamics, community structure, and species diversity (Pruitt, Grinsted & Settepani, 2013; Mittelbach et al, 2014)

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