Behaviour in a standardized assay, but not metabolic or growth rate, predicts behavioural variation in an adult aquatic top predator Esox lucius in the wild

Abstract

This study tested for links among behaviour, state and life-history variables as predicted by the pace-of-life hypothesis in adult pike Esox lucius. First, a standardized open-field behavioural assay was developed to assess individual behaviour of wild-captured adult E. lucius. Behaviour within the standardized assay predicted swimming behaviour in the lake, providing an ecological validation of the assay. There was no relationship between standardized behaviour and any of the life-history and state variables, including metabolism, body condition, juvenile growth rate and adult growth rate in contrast to predictions from the pace-of-life hypothesis. This study demonstrates that it is possible to assess ecologically relevant behavioural variation in a large-bodied top predator using a standard open-field assay, but it is noteworthy that this standardized behaviour is not systematically related to standard metabolism or growth.

Relationships between individual movement, trophic position and growth of juvenile pike (Esox lucius)

“…We have previously documented individual consistency in foraging activity across risky situations consisting of the presence/absence of a competitor or predator laboratory experiments using 0 + pike collected from this particular population (Nyqvist, Gozlan, Cucherousset, & Britton, 2012. Bolder individuals maintained a high foraging activity through time, while shyer individuals maintained a low foraging activity, but without consequences on growth (Nyqvist et al, 2012(Nyqvist et al, , 2013 (Laskowski et al, 2016). In contrast, our results show that individual movement had positive consequences on growth and trophic positions in juvenile pike in the wild.…”

“…Laskowski et al. () tested individual behaviour of wild adult pike captured from a lake in standardised open‐field behavioural assays. The measured standardised behaviour did not relate to growth rate (Laskowski et al., ).…”

“…() tested individual behaviour of wild adult pike captured from a lake in standardised open‐field behavioural assays. The measured standardised behaviour did not relate to growth rate (Laskowski et al., ). In contrast, our results show that individual movement had positive consequences on growth and trophic positions in juvenile pike in the wild.…”

Encountering a bait is necessary but insufficient to explain individual variability in vulnerability to angling in two freshwater benthivorous fish in the wild

“…Only experimental fish sampling, mainly targeting top predators such as pike, Esox lucius , e.g. [59], has taken place at Kleiner Döllnsee since 1992. The Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries has been the fishing rights owner of Kleiner Döllnsee since 1992, and in this position has full permission to conduct the study on the premises.…”

Field testing a novel high residence positioning system for monitoring the fine‐scale movements of aquatic organisms

“…Our results suggest that the HR‐VPS technology should close this critical gap, finally providing accurate measures of spontaneous activity, foraging ability and habitat preferences in the wild. This will allow individual variation in traits such as metabolic rate, stress responsiveness and personality of multiple individuals in a confined area to be directly related to movement patterns (migration, foraging habits and spawning aggregations) in free‐ranging animals (Baktoft et al., ; Laskowski et al., ; Treberg, Killen, MacCormack, Lamarre, & Enders, ). From a conservation perspective, this technology will facilitate the study of how animal movements change in response to natural and anthropogenic change in variables such as temperature, oxygen and food availability.…”