Behavioural syndromes in brook charr, Salvelinus fontinalis: prey-search in the field corresponds with space use in novel laboratory situations

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2007.01.009

Animal Behaviour

Volume 74, Issue 4, October 2007, Pages 689-698

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2007.01.009 Get rights and content

Recently emerged brook charr foraging in still-water pools along the sides of streams tend to be either sedentary, feeding from the lower portion of the water column (a sit-and-wait tactic) near the stream bank, or very active, feeding from the upper portion of the water column (an active search tactic) away from the bank. We tested whether the search tactics used by charr in the field represent behavioural syndromes related to activity and space use. After quantifying the behaviour of fish in the field, focal individuals were captured and their behaviour quantified in novel environment experiments in the laboratory. In an aquarium, individuals that used an active search tactic in the field spent a higher proportion of time moving, spent less time near the aquarium bottom, and took less time to find their way out of an erect glass jar, on average, than did individuals that used a sit-and-wait tactic in the field. When presented with near-bank and open-water conditions over 6 days in the laboratory, individuals that used an active search tactic in the field remained active and altered their activity less, on average, than individuals that used a sit-and-wait tactic in the field. Immediate responses to a pebble dropped in the aquarium (simulated risk from above) were not correlated with field behaviour. The search tactics used by brook charr in the field reflect part of a behavioural syndrome related to general activity and space use, but not to startle responses. These initial, individual differences in behaviour provide important raw material for the initial stages of resource polymorphism.

Section snippets

Field Observations

Between 5 April and 16 May 2004, we observed and captured 89 young-of-the-year (YOY) brook charr (fork length: 2.0–3.0 cm; weight: 0.050–0.300 g) from the west branch of the Credit River (mean water temperature: ∼10°C) in Erin Township, Ontario. Observations were made from seven still-water pools (surface area: ∼1.0–1.5 m²) along a 1-km stretch of river and took place between 0900 and 1200 hours (Eastern Standard Time).

For a given observation period, an observer arrived at a pool and, while

Experiment 1: Latency to Exit a Jar

Fish that were more active in the field took less time to escape from the glass jar than those that were less active in the field (G₁ = 5.77, P < 0.02). The time-to-event (jar exit) regression predicted that the most active individuals from the field would have exit times that were 30% lower, on average, than those of the least active fish from the field (Fig. 2). When individual fish moved, the nature of the movement was consistent with that shown by active, foraging fish in the field. No fish

Discussion

Our study supports three main conclusions. First, the sit-and-wait and active search tactics used by brook charr in the field reflect part of a behavioural syndrome encompassing general activity and space use (experiments 1, 2 and 4), but not startle responses (experiment 3). Second, activity of charr in the laboratory was shaped both by flexible responses to environmental conditions and by underlying predispositions to be active (experiments 2 and 4) and the predispositions were repeatable for

Acknowledgments

We thank four anonymous referees, Drs D. Noakes, N. Bernier, J. Fryxell and E. Boulding for comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript, S. Burosch for assistance in the field and laboratory, R. Frank and M. Cornish for technical support in Hagen Aqualab, and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR) for a permit to collect fish. This research was supported by an NSERC Operating Grant to R. L. McLaughlin and was approved by University of Guelph Animal Care Committee (Animal Utilization

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¹: R. L. McLaughlin is at the Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph ON, N1G 2W1, Canada.

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ArticlesBehavioural syndromes in brook charr, Salvelinus fontinalis: prey-search in the field corresponds with space use in novel laboratory situations

Section snippets

Field Observations

Experiment 1: Latency to Exit a Jar

Discussion

Acknowledgments

Animal Behaviour

Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews

Animal Behaviour

Animal Behaviour

Animal Behaviour

Hormones and Behaviour

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

Animal Behaviour

Animal Behaviour

The activity-specific metabolic rates of free-living northern gannets and other seabirds

Ecology

Fear and fearfulness in animals

Quarterly Review of Biology

Can intraspecific variation competition drive disruptive selection? An experimental test in natural populations of sticklebacks

Evolution

The ecology of individuals: incidence and implications of individual specialization

American Naturalist

Feeding history, parental stock, and food selection in rainbow trout

Behaviour

Food specialization by individual trout

Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada

Aggression and growth depression in juvenile Atlantic salmon: the consequences of individual variation in standard metabolic rate

Journal of Fish Biology

The behavioural ecology of personality: consistent individual differences from an adaptive perspective

Ecology Letters

Ecological mechanisms favouring behavioural diversification in the absence of morphological diversification: a theoretical examination using brook charr (Salvelinus fontinalis)

Journal of Animal Ecology

Natural selection and animal personality

Behaviour

Natal dispersal and personalities in great tits (Parus major)

Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B

Boldness, behavioral inhibition and learning

Ethology, Ecology and Evolution

Genetic and morphological variation between two forms of lacustrine brook charr

Journal of Fish Biology

Explaining leptokurtic movement distributions: intrapopulation variation in boldness and exploration

American Naturalist

Female mating preference for bold males in the guppy, Poecilia reticulata

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A.

From mice to men: what can we learn about personality from animal research

Psychological Bulletin

Movers and stayers: foraging tactics of young-of-the-year brook charr, Salvelinus fontinalis

Journal of Animal Ecology

Escape behaviour and use of cover by young-of-the-year brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis

Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences

Nonparametric Statistical Methods

Applied Survival Analysis: Regression Modeling of Time to Event Data

Applied Logistic Regression

Behavioural syndromes in farmed fish: implications for production and welfare

Behaviour

Articles
Behavioural syndromes in brook charr, Salvelinus fontinalis: prey-search in the field corresponds with space use in novel laboratory situations