A predation cost to bold fish in the wild
Hulthén, Kaj LU ; Chapman, Ben B. LU ; Nilsson, P. Anders LU
; Hansson, Lars Anders
LU
; Skov, Christian
LU
; Brodersen, Jakob
LU
; Vinterstare, Jerker
LU
and Brönmark, Christer
LU
(2017)
In Scientific Reports
7(1).
- Abstract
Studies of predator-mediated selection on behaviour are critical for our understanding of the evolution and maintenance of behavioural diversity in natural populations. Consistent individual differences in prey behaviour, especially in the propensity to take risks ("boldness"), are widespread in the animal kingdom. Theory predicts that individual behavioural types differ in a cost-benefit trade-off where bolder individuals benefit from greater access to resources while paying higher predation-risk costs. However, explicitly linking predation events to individual behaviour under natural conditions is challenging and there is currently little data from the wild. We assayed individual behaviour and electronically tagged hundreds of fish... (More)
Studies of predator-mediated selection on behaviour are critical for our understanding of the evolution and maintenance of behavioural diversity in natural populations. Consistent individual differences in prey behaviour, especially in the propensity to take risks ("boldness"), are widespread in the animal kingdom. Theory predicts that individual behavioural types differ in a cost-benefit trade-off where bolder individuals benefit from greater access to resources while paying higher predation-risk costs. However, explicitly linking predation events to individual behaviour under natural conditions is challenging and there is currently little data from the wild. We assayed individual behaviour and electronically tagged hundreds of fish (roach, Rutilus rutilus) before releasing them into their lake of origin, thereby exposing them to predation risk from avian apex predators (cormorants, Phalacrocorax carbo). Scanning for regurgitated tags at the cormorant roosting site provided data on individual predation events. We found that fish with higher boldness have a greater susceptibility to cormorant predation compared to relatively shy, risk-averse individuals. Our findings hereby provide unique and direct evidence of behavioural type-dependent predation vulnerability in the wild, i.e. that there is a predation cost to boldness, which is critical for our understanding of the evolution and maintenance of behavioural diversity in natural populations.
(Less)
- author
- Hulthén, Kaj
LU
; Chapman, Ben B.
LU
; Nilsson, P. Anders
LU
; Hansson, Lars Anders
LU
; Skov, Christian
LU
; Brodersen, Jakob
LU
; Vinterstare, Jerker
LU
and Brönmark, Christer
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2017-04-27
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Scientific Reports
- volume
- 7
- issue
- 1
- article number
- 1239
- publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:28450699
- wos:000400190200003
- scopus:85018437630
- ISSN
- 2045-2322
- DOI
- 10.1038/s41598-017-01270-w
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- f092560c-5288-48b9-8c18-8b1acda639ec
- date added to LUP
- 2017-05-17 08:28:43
- date last changed
- 2025-03-19 00:22:44
@article{f092560c-5288-48b9-8c18-8b1acda639ec,
abstract = {{<p>Studies of predator-mediated selection on behaviour are critical for our understanding of the evolution and maintenance of behavioural diversity in natural populations. Consistent individual differences in prey behaviour, especially in the propensity to take risks ("boldness"), are widespread in the animal kingdom. Theory predicts that individual behavioural types differ in a cost-benefit trade-off where bolder individuals benefit from greater access to resources while paying higher predation-risk costs. However, explicitly linking predation events to individual behaviour under natural conditions is challenging and there is currently little data from the wild. We assayed individual behaviour and electronically tagged hundreds of fish (roach, Rutilus rutilus) before releasing them into their lake of origin, thereby exposing them to predation risk from avian apex predators (cormorants, Phalacrocorax carbo). Scanning for regurgitated tags at the cormorant roosting site provided data on individual predation events. We found that fish with higher boldness have a greater susceptibility to cormorant predation compared to relatively shy, risk-averse individuals. Our findings hereby provide unique and direct evidence of behavioural type-dependent predation vulnerability in the wild, i.e. that there is a predation cost to boldness, which is critical for our understanding of the evolution and maintenance of behavioural diversity in natural populations.</p>}},
author = {{Hulthén, Kaj and Chapman, Ben B. and Nilsson, P. Anders and Hansson, Lars Anders and Skov, Christian and Brodersen, Jakob and Vinterstare, Jerker and Brönmark, Christer}},
issn = {{2045-2322}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{04}},
number = {{1}},
publisher = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
series = {{Scientific Reports}},
title = {{A predation cost to bold fish in the wild}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-01270-w}},
doi = {{10.1038/s41598-017-01270-w}},
volume = {{7}},
year = {{2017}},
}