Studying behavioural variation in salmonids from an ecological perspective: observations questions methodological considerations

Johnsson, Jörgen I.; Näslund, Joacim

doi:10.1007/s11160-018-9532-3

Cited by 28 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 241 publications

(240 reference statements)

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“…We emphasize that there can be benefits of keeping wild animals in captivity prior to scoring (i.e. using acclimation period) when maintained under adequate holding conditions (Niemelä & Dingemanse, ; Näslund & Johnsson, ; Johnsson & Näslund, ). Benefits may include reductions in stress, acclimation to surroundings or standardization of environmental conditions prior to testing.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…pseudo‐repeatability; Dingemanse & Dochtermann, ). Therefore, mark–recapture studies combined with repeated phenotypic scoring of wild animals under standardized laboratory conditions are necessary to bridge this methodological gap (Johnsson & Näslund, ). The main advantage of such studies is that focal individuals are residing in their natural environment between scorings and yet are scored under the same ambient conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Laboratory captivity can affect scores of metabolic rates and activity in wild brown trout

et al. 2018

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Phenotypic scoring of wild animals under standardized laboratory conditions is important as it allows field ecologists and evolutionary biologists to understand the development and maintenance of interindividual differences in plastic traits (e.g. behaviour and physiology). However, captivity is associated with a shift from a natural familiar environment to an unfamiliar and artificial environment, which may affect estimates of plastic phenotypic traits. In this study, we tested how previous experience with laboratory environments and time spent in captivity affects behavioural (i.e. activity) and metabolic (i.e. standard and maximum metabolic rates) scoring of our model species, wild brown trout Salmo trutta. We found that individuals with previous experience of laboratory captivity (10.5 months earlier) showed higher activity in an open field test than individuals with no prior experience of laboratory captivity. Previous experience with captivity had no significant effect on metabolic rates. However, metabolic rates seemed to increase with increasing time spent in captivity prior to the collection of measurements. Although there are benefits of keeping wild animals in captivity prior to scoring, our results suggest that while allowing for sufficient acclimatization researchers should aim at minimizing time in captivity of wild animals to increase accuracy and ecological relevance of the scoring of plastic phenotypic traits.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Laboratory captivity can affect scores of metabolic rates and activity in wild brown trout

et al. 2018

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“…Mirror tests may overestimate scores for aggressive individuals, as all individuals will meet a size‐ and condition‐matched individual, aggression may escalate toward their mirror image more readily than to a live fish, thus inflating the variation of the measured trait (Arnott and Elwood ). However, as we were interested in correlations, rather than exact point estimates, and as positive reinforcement is unlikely to change the rank order of aggression among individuals (Johnsson and Näslund ), we view mirror tests as providing an appropriate measure of aggression at a comparative scale. Trial tanks were identical to housing tanks, and males were scored individually.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Macroevolutionary evidence suggests trait‐dependent coevolution between behavior and life‐history

et al. 2019

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Species with fast life‐histories typically prioritize current over future reproductive events, compared to species with slow life‐histories. These species therefore require greater energetic input into reproduction, and also likely have less time to realize their reproductive potential. Hence, behaviors that increase access to both resources and mating opportunities, at a cost of increased mortality risk, could coevolve with the pace of life‐history. However, whether this prediction holds across species, remains untested under standardized conditions. Here, we test how risky behaviors, which facilitate access to resources and mating opportunities (i.e., activity, boldness, and aggression), along with metabolic rate, coevolve with the pace of life‐history across 20 species of killifish that present remarkable divergences in the pace of life‐history. We found a positive association between the pace of life‐history and aggression, but interestingly not with other behavioral traits or metabolic rate. Aggression is linked to interference competition, and in killifishes is often employed to secure mates, while activity and boldness are more relevant for exploiting energetic resources. Our results suggest that the trade‐off between current and future reproduction plays a more prominent role in shaping mating behavior, while behaviors related to energy acquisition may be influenced by ecological factors.

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“…Brown trout was selected as test species due to its wide distribution range, its ecological relevance as a target species for restoration in European streams and foremost for its role as model species in regular fish monitoring at hydropower plants [11,24,25]. Therein the species represents rheophilic fish with streamlined fusiform body shapes [11].…”

Section: Study Sites and Model Fish Testedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sneaker, Dweller and Commuter: Evaluating Fish Behavior in Net-Based Monitoring at Hydropower Plants—A Case Study on Brown Trout (Salmo trutta)

et al. 2021

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Monitoring of fish passage at hydropower plants largely relies on stow-fyke-net captures installed downstream of turbine outlets, yet little is known about which fish behavior contributes to reduced catch efficiency. We studied fish-net interactions as well as biological and physical factors potentially influencing behavior in three experiments: (i) fall-through experiment, to measure the general physical ability of a fish to fit through a certain mesh size; (ii) net-perception experiment, where fish were filmed while being exposed to different mesh sizes, flow and lure conditions in a controlled arena setup; and (iii) stow-fyke-net experiment, where fish behavior was recorded using 20 cameras simultaneously inside a stow net during regular hydropower fish monitoring. In total, we analyzed 382 h of video recordings. The material revealed that fish interacted with the net on a high rate, independent of flow conditions, and tried to swim through the mesh regardless of whether their body fits through. Under field conditions, the fish showed three specific behavioral patterns, “sneaking,” “dwelling” and “commuting,” which led to a reduced recapture rate in the catch unit of the stow-fyke net. This study highlights the importance of considering fish behavior in future fish monitoring programs to improve the accuracy of turbine-effect assessments on fish.

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Studying behavioural variation in salmonids from an ecological perspective: observations questions methodological considerations

Cited by 28 publications

References 241 publications

Laboratory captivity can affect scores of metabolic rates and activity in wild brown trout

Laboratory captivity can affect scores of metabolic rates and activity in wild brown trout

Macroevolutionary evidence suggests trait‐dependent coevolution between behavior and life‐history

Sneaker, Dweller and Commuter: Evaluating Fish Behavior in Net-Based Monitoring at Hydropower Plants—A Case Study on Brown Trout (Salmo trutta)

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