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Context-dependent individual behavioral consistency in Daphnia

Heuschele, Jan LU ; Ekvall, Mikael LU ; Bianco, Giuseppe LU orcid ; Hylander, Samuel LU and Hansson, Lars-Anders LU orcid (2017) In Ecosphere 8(2).
Abstract
The understanding of consistent individual differences in behavior, often termed “personality,” for adapting and coping with threats and novel environmental conditions has advanced considerably during the last decade. However, advancements are almost exclusively associated with higher‐order animals, whereas studies focusing on smaller aquatic organisms are still rare. Here, we show individual differences in the swimming behavior of Daphnia magna, a clonal freshwater invertebrate, before, during, and after being exposed to a lethal threat, ultraviolet radiation (UVR). We show consistency in swimming velocity among both mothers and daughters of D. magna in a neutral environment, whereas this pattern breaks down when exposed to UVR. Our study... (More)
The understanding of consistent individual differences in behavior, often termed “personality,” for adapting and coping with threats and novel environmental conditions has advanced considerably during the last decade. However, advancements are almost exclusively associated with higher‐order animals, whereas studies focusing on smaller aquatic organisms are still rare. Here, we show individual differences in the swimming behavior of Daphnia magna, a clonal freshwater invertebrate, before, during, and after being exposed to a lethal threat, ultraviolet radiation (UVR). We show consistency in swimming velocity among both mothers and daughters of D. magna in a neutral environment, whereas this pattern breaks down when exposed to UVR. Our study also, for the first time, illustrates how the ontogenetic development in swimming and refuge‐seeking behavior of young individuals eventually approaches that of adults. Overall, we show that aquatic invertebrates are far from being identical robots, but instead they show considerable individual differences in behavior that can be attributed to both ontogenetic development and individual consistency. Our study also demonstrates, for the first time, that behavioral consistency and repeatability, that is, something resembling “personality,” is context and state dependent in this zooplankter taxa. (Less)
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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Ecosphere
volume
8
issue
2
article number
e01679
publisher
Ecological Society of America
external identifiers
  • scopus:85014044290
ISSN
2150-8925
DOI
10.1002/ecs2.1679
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
03b17a85-0bf9-4c1e-8ce8-5dbd1908848b
date added to LUP
2018-04-18 14:42:28
date last changed
2022-04-25 06:58:40
@article{03b17a85-0bf9-4c1e-8ce8-5dbd1908848b,
  abstract     = {{The understanding of consistent individual differences in behavior, often termed “personality,” for adapting and coping with threats and novel environmental conditions has advanced considerably during the last decade. However, advancements are almost exclusively associated with higher‐order animals, whereas studies focusing on smaller aquatic organisms are still rare. Here, we show individual differences in the swimming behavior of Daphnia magna, a clonal freshwater invertebrate, before, during, and after being exposed to a lethal threat, ultraviolet radiation (UVR). We show consistency in swimming velocity among both mothers and daughters of D. magna in a neutral environment, whereas this pattern breaks down when exposed to UVR. Our study also, for the first time, illustrates how the ontogenetic development in swimming and refuge‐seeking behavior of young individuals eventually approaches that of adults. Overall, we show that aquatic invertebrates are far from being identical robots, but instead they show considerable individual differences in behavior that can be attributed to both ontogenetic development and individual consistency. Our study also demonstrates, for the first time, that behavioral consistency and repeatability, that is, something resembling “personality,” is context and state dependent in this zooplankter taxa.}},
  author       = {{Heuschele, Jan and Ekvall, Mikael and Bianco, Giuseppe and Hylander, Samuel and Hansson, Lars-Anders}},
  issn         = {{2150-8925}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{02}},
  number       = {{2}},
  publisher    = {{Ecological Society of America}},
  series       = {{Ecosphere}},
  title        = {{Context-dependent individual behavioral consistency in Daphnia}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.1679}},
  doi          = {{10.1002/ecs2.1679}},
  volume       = {{8}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}