Laboratory measures of boldness correlate with ecological niche in threespine stickleback

Theódórsson, Benedikt Kári; Ólafsdóttir, Guðbjörg Ásta

doi:10.1002/ece3.9235

“…Once again, we did not find repeatability for boldness, although we did observe a correlation between this measure of boldness, activity, and exploration. In our final approach, we measured boldness as the latency to enter a novel environment, a less common yet established method for evaluating boldness (White et al 2013; Magnhagen et al 2014; Theódórsson and Ólafsdóttir 2022). With this approach, we observed both repeatability and a correlation between boldness and activity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual Behavioral Variability Across Time and Contexts inDendrobates tinctoriusPoison Frogs

Soto,

Hardin,

Alleyne

et al. 2023

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Consistent individual differences in behavior (aka, “animal personality”) have consequences for individual fitness, adaptive trajectories, and species’ persistence. Such differences have been documented across a wide range of animals, though amphibians are generally underrepresented in this research area. The aim of our study was to examine consistent individual differences in poison frogs (Dendrobates tinctorius). We evaluated repeatability in behaviors including activity, exploration, and boldness to assess consistency of behaviors across different temporal, experimental, and environmental contexts. We found repeatability in activity and exploration across time and contexts. In contrast, we observed context-specific behavior for our metrics of boldness, with consistent individual differences only for some measures. Further, while activity and exploration displayed consistent correlations across contexts, relationships between activity and boldness were context dependent. Our findings document the presence of consistent individual differences in behavior in poison frogs, challenging historic assumptions about the simplicity of amphibian behavior. Nonetheless, our approach testing the same individuals across multiple time points and assays also reveals context-dependent differences, highlighting the complex relationship between consistent individual differences and context-specific responses in animal behavior.Statement of SignificanceThe concept of animal personality centers on the existence of consistent individual differences in behavior. However, behavioral responses can also depend on the context, and consistent individual differences in one context do not guarantee consistent differences in another. To address this question, we assessed activity, exploration, and boldness in captive-bred poison frogs (Dendrobates tinctorius) across time and environmental contexts. Our comprehensive approach revealed consistent individual differences in some behaviors and context-specificity in others. While activity and exploration were generally repeatable and correlated with one another, boldness was not. Especially in view of the emphasis on measures of boldness in the animal personality literature, our findings emphasize the importance of reiterative and holistic approaches in the study of animal behavior.

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“…Boldness (often measured as an individual's tendency to take risks or respond to novelty) and aggressiveness have been independently linked to various aspects of foraging, including search behaviour (Patrick et al, 2017;Traisnel & Pichegru, 2019), resource exploitation (Theódórsson & Ólafsdóttir, 2022), foraging efficiency (DiRienzo et al, 2020;Tan et al, 2018) and foraging site fidelity (Harris et al, 2020). Given that animals often face a trade-off between safety and resource acquisition, boldness is regularly connected to how individuals forage, particularly under predation risk (Dammhahn & Almeling, 2012;Eccard et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resource manipulation reveals interactive phenotype‐dependent foraging in free‐ranging lizards

Spiegel,

Michelangeli,

Sinn

et al. 2024

Journal of Animal Ecology

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Recent evidence suggests that individuals differ in foraging tactics and this variation is often linked to an individual's behavioural type (BT). Yet, while foraging typically comprises a series of search and handling steps, empirical investigations have rarely considered BT‐dependent effects across multiple stages of the foraging process, particularly in natural settings. In our long‐term sleepy lizard (Tiliqua rugosa) study system, individuals exhibit behavioural consistency in boldness (measured as an individual's willingness to approach a novel food item in the presence of a threat) and aggressiveness (measured as an individual's response to an ‘attack’ by a conspecific dummy). These BTs are only weakly correlated and have previously been shown to have interactive effects on lizard space use and movement, suggesting that they could also affect lizard foraging performance, particularly in their search behaviour for food. To investigate how lizards' BTs affect their foraging process in the wild, we supplemented food in 123 patches across a 120‐ha study site with three food abundance treatments (high, low and no‐food controls). Patches were replenished twice a week over the species' entire spring activity season and feeding behaviours were quantified with camera traps at these patches. We tracked lizards using GPS to determine their home range (HR) size and repeatedly assayed their aggressiveness and boldness in designated assays. We hypothesised that bolder lizards would be more efficient foragers while aggressive ones would be less attentive to the quality of foraging patches. We found an interactive BT effect on overall foraging performance. Individuals that were both bold and aggressive ate the highest number of food items from the foraging array. Further dissection of the foraging process showed that aggressive lizards in general ate the fewest food items in part because they visited foraging patches less regularly, and because they discriminated less between high and low‐quality patches when revisiting them. Bolder lizards, in contrast, ate more tomatoes because they visited foraging patches more regularly, and ate a higher proportion of the available tomatoes at patches during visits. Our study demonstrates that BTs can interact to affect different search and handling components of the foraging process, leading to within‐population variation in foraging success. Given that individual differences in foraging and movement will influence social and ecological interactions, our results highlight the potential role of BT's in shaping individual fitness strategies and population dynamics.

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“…Once again, we did not nd repeatability for boldness, although we did observe a correlation between this measure of boldness, activity, and exploration. In our nal approach, we measured boldness as the latency to enter a novel environment, a less common yet established method for evaluating boldness(White et al 2013;Magnhagen et al 2014;Theódórsson and Ólafsdóttir 2022). With this approach, we observed both repeatability and a correlation between boldness and activity.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual Behavioral Variability Across Time and Contexts in Dendrobates tinctorius Poison Frogs

Soto,

Hardin,

Alleyne

et al. 2023

Preprint

0

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Consistent individual differences in behavior (aka, “animal personality”) have consequences for individual fitness, adaptive trajectories, and species’ persistence. Such differences have been documented across a wide range of animals, though amphibians are generally underrepresented in this research area. The aim of our study was to examine consistent individual differences in poison frogs (Dendrobates tinctorius). We evaluated repeatability in behaviors including activity, exploration, and boldness to assess consistency of behaviors across different temporal, experimental, and environmental contexts. We found repeatability in activity and exploration across time and contexts. In contrast, we observed context-specific behavior for our metrics of boldness, with consistent individual differences only for some measures. Further, while activity and exploration displayed consistent correlations across contexts, relationships between activity and boldness were context dependent. Our findings document the presence of consistent individual differences in behavior in poison frogs, challenging historic assumptions about the simplicity of amphibian behavior. Nonetheless, our approach testing the same individuals across multiple time points and assays also reveals context-dependent differences, highlighting the complex relationship between consistent individual differences and context-specific responses in animal behavior.

show abstract

Laboratory measures of boldness correlate with ecological niche in threespine stickleback

Cited by 14 publications

References 73 publications

Individual Behavioral Variability Across Time and Contexts inDendrobates tinctoriusPoison Frogs

Individual Behavioral Variability Across Time and Contexts inDendrobates tinctoriusPoison Frogs

Resource manipulation reveals interactive phenotype‐dependent foraging in free‐ranging lizards

Individual Behavioral Variability Across Time and Contexts in Dendrobates tinctorius Poison Frogs

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