Rapid evolution and behavioral plasticity following introduction to an environment with reduced predation risk

Abstract

AbstractAdaptive behavioral plasticity can play a beneficial role when a population becomes established in a novel environment if environmental cues allow the expression of appropriate behavior. Further, plasticity itself can evolve over time in a new environment causing changes in the way or degree to which animals respond to environmental cues. Colonization events provide an opportunity to investigate such relationships between behavioral plasticity and adaptation to new environments. Here, we investigated the evolution of behavior and behavioral plasticity during colonization of a new environment, by testing if female mate‐choice behavior diverged in Trinidadian guppies 2–3 years (~6–9 generations) after being introduced to four locations with reduced predation risk. We collected wild‐caught fish from the source and introduced populations, and we reared out second‐generation females in the laboratory with and without predator cues to examine their plastic responses to a bright and dull male. We found introduced females were less responsive to males when reared without predator cues, but both introduced and source females were similarly responsive when reared with predator cues. Thus, the parallel evolution of behavior across multiple populations in the low‐predation environment was only observed in the treatment mimicking the introduction environment. Such results are consistent with theory predicting that the evolution of plasticity is a by‐product of differential selection across environments.