The pace-of-life syndrome (POLS) hypothesis predicts variation in behaviour and physiology among individuals to be associated with variation in life history. Thus, individuals on the “fast” end of POLS continuum grow faster, exhibit higher metabolism, are more risk prone, but die earlier than ones on the “slow” end. Empirical support is nevertheless mixed and modelling studies suggested POLS to vary along selection gradients. Therefore, including ecological variation when testing POLS is vastly needed to determine whether POLS is a fixed construct or the result of specific selection processes. Here, we tested POLS predictions between and within two fish populations originating from different ecological conditions. We observed opposing life histories between populations, characterized by differential investments into growth, fecundity, and functional morphology under identical laboratory conditions. A slower life history was, on average, associated with boldness (latency to emergence from a refuge), high activity (short freezing time and long distance travelled), and increased standard metabolism. Correlation structures among POLS traits were not consistent between populations, with the expression of POLS observed in the slow-growing but not in the fast-growing population. Our results suggest that POLS traits can evolve independently from one another and that their coevolution depends upon specific ecological processes.

25Increased timidity is a behavioral response to exploitation caused by a combination of 26 learning and fisheries-induced selection favoring shy fish. In our study, the potential for 27 angling-induced change in fish behavior was examined in two marine coastal fish 28 exploited by boat recreational fishing in the Mediterranean (Mallorca, Spain). It was 29 expected that the average vulnerability to capture of surviving individuals would differ 30 across a gradient of previous exposure to recreational angling, and that this effect would 31 be present in multiple species. The prediction received partial empirical support. 32Recreational angling intensity was correlated with enhanced gear-avoidance behavior in 33 only one of the two study species, the carnivorous painted comber (Serranus scriba). By 34 contrast, the omnivorous fish species in our study, the annular seabream (Diplodus 35 annularis), did not differ in its behavior towards hooks in exploited compared to 36 unexploited sites. These results suggest that recreational angling may contribute to 37 patterns of hyperdepletion in catch rates due to increased timidity and associated 38 reduced vulnerability to fishing gear in some exploited species. Such effects would lead 39 to erroneous interpretations about the status of the fish stocks when assessed by fishery-40 dependent data and would negatively affect catch rates and quality of the fishery in the 41 affected species. 42 43

In most fisheries, larger fish experience substantially higher mortality than smaller fish. Body length, life history, and behavioral traits are often correlated, such that fisheries-induced changes in size or life history can also alter