Personality-dependent dispersal cancelled under predation risk

Abstract

Dispersal is a fundamental life-history trait for many ecological processes. Recent studies suggest that dispersers, in comparison to residents, display various phenotypic specializations increasing their dispersal inclination or success. Among them, dispersers are believed to be consistently more bold, exploratory, asocial or aggressive than residents. These links between behavioural types and dispersal should vary with the cause of dispersal. However, with the exception of one study, personality-dependent dispersal has not been studied in contrasting environments. Here, we used mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) to test whether personality-dependent dispersal varies with predation risk, a factor that should induce boldness or sociability-dependent dispersal. Corroborating previous studies, we found that dispersing mosquitofish are less social than non-dispersing fish when there was no predation risk. However, personality-dependent dispersal is negated under predation risk, dispersers having similar personality types to residents. Our results suggest that adaptive dispersal decisions could commonly depend on interactions between phenotypes and ecological contexts.

Personality composition is more important than group size in determining collective foraging behaviour in the wild

“…By contrast, when colonies were permitted to construct a capture web, we noted live prey in nearly every web, and we often observed individuals and groups of spiders interacting with predatory ants. Although mostly speculative, we propose that antagonistic species interactions may decouple the influence of both group size and group composition on some collective behaviours, but not others, as has been observed in some other systems [44].…”

Individual movement rates are sufficient to determine and maintain dynamic spatial positioning within Uca pugilator herds

“…We followed previously methods that have previously been used to quantify activity levels in this species (Decker and Griffen 2012), as well as in other aggregating species, including sheep ) and fish (Cote et al 2013). Behavioral tests were administered within 24 hours of collecting the individual to ensure that the physiological/energetic state was not substantially altered.…”

“…sociability, exploration/activity level, boldness). Activity level and boldness are often positively correlated within individuals (Fraser et al 2001;Wilson and McLaughlin 2007;Pintor et al 2008;Wilson and Godin 2009;Cote et al 2010;Cote et al 2013), leading some researchers to use activity level or exploratory behavior as a proxy for boldness (Leblond and Reebs 2006;Reale et al 2007;). In our study system, individual crabs are consistently bold in their willingness to take risk and are consistent in their activity levels, however, these two personality traits (boldness and activity level) are not correlated within the same individual crab (Decker and Griffen 2012).…”

Ecological effects of pharmaceuticals in aquatic systems—impacts through behavioural alterations

“…The ability of potential prey to correctly assess predation risk is therefore crucial for fitness. Dispersal and migration are also examples of behaviours that have direct importance for population persistence, especially in the face of rapid environmental change [11], as individuals that express more active, bold and/or asocial behaviours tend to be more prone to disperse or migrate [12][13][14][15]. Lastly, among fish, schooling-a behaviour tightly linked to sociality-is directly important [16], as it confuses the predator and thereby increases each schooling individual's chance of survival [17].…”