Risk-Taking During Feeding: Between- and Within-Population Variation and Repeatability Across Contexts Among Wild Zebrafish

Abstract

Behavioral responses are shaped by a complex interplay of extrinsic factors, such as predation and flow conditions, and intrinsic properties such as metabolic state. We investigated variations in boldness among four populations of zebrafish collected from widely varying habitat conditions across India. We measured feeding latencies of fish in four contexts: in a novel environment; in an environment with refuge and predators; in the presence of a shoal; and in the presence of a shoal and predators. The population from a high-flow and high-predation habitat was significantly bolder than populations from low-predation and low-flow/stagnant habitats. Individuals were significantly bolder in the presence of shoal and predators than in the other contexts. In general, males were significantly bolder than females. Smaller individuals took greater risks to feed than larger individuals only within two populations. The high-predation, high-flow habitat fish also showed significantly lower between- and within-individual variation in boldness than all the low-predation and low-flow populations. Furthermore, we found significantly repeatable responses across contexts within all populations, indicating behavioral consistency. Differences in response to variations in experimental contexts and stress and individual differences in metabolic rates could possibly explain the observed between- and within-individual variation among populations.

Repeatability and reliability of exploratory behavior in proactive and reactive zebrafish, Danio rerio

“…Time spent in the center zone showed the greatest variability across weeks compared to stationary time and swimming speed. While several studies have found sex-specific behavioral variation of mating and aggressive behaviors 46,47,60 , we did not observe any sex differences in exploratory behavior.…”

“…These studies suggest that selection can influence expression of repeatability and reliability by potentially placing survival costs on individuals. Predation has frequently been identified as one of the strongest ecological pressures that can influence the repeatability and reliability of animal behavior 11,16,47 . We speculate that by selecting for an ecologically relevant behavioral response to a stressor in the HSB and LSB lines within the lab, it may have been simulating selection of behavioral responses to predation in the wild.…”

Experimental Size‐Selective Harvesting Affects Behavioral Types of a Social Fish

“…; Roy et al. ). However, the sociability trait was more tightly correlated to total activity than to risky activity, suggesting that this interpretation is unlikely.…”

Population, sex and body size: determinants of behavioural variations and behavioural correlations among wild zebrafish Danio rerio

“…While poeciliid Brachyraphis episcopi populations from high-predation regimes were more exploratory and active than low-predation populations [ 12 ], three-spined sticklebacks Gasterosteus aculeatus from high-predation habitats were less bold and active than those from low-predation habitats [ 8 ]. In our previous study, we found fish from high-predation habitats to be bolder than fish from low-predation habitats [ 13 ]. Recent studies investigating the role of different selective forces in determining temperament traits indicate that the direction of correlations between behaviours can actually vary across populations [ 1 ].…”