Thermal preference predicts animal personality in Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus

Abstract

Summary1. Environmental temperature gradients provide habitat structure in which fish orientate and individual thermal choice may reflect an essential integrated response to the environment. The use of subtle thermal gradients likely impacts upon specific physiological and behavioural processes reflected as a suite of traits described by animal personality. In this study we examine the relationship between thermal choice, animal personality and the impact of infection upon this interaction.2. We predicted that thermal choice in Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus reflects distinct personality traits and that under a challenge individuals exhibit differential thermal distribution. Accepted ArticleThis article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.3. Nile Tilapia were screened following two different protocols: 1) a suite of individual behavioural tests to screen for personality and 2) thermal choice in a custom-built tank with a thermal gradient (T CH tank) ranging from 21 to 33 ºC. A first set of fish were screened for behaviour and then thermal preference and a second set were tested in the opposite fashion; thermal then behaviour. The final thermal distribution of the fish after 48 h was assessed reflecting final thermal preferendum. Additionally, fish were then challenged using a bacterial Streptococcus iniae model infection to assess the behavioural fever response of proactive and reactive fish.4. Results showed that individuals with preference for higher temperatures were also classified as proactive with behavioural tests and reactive contemporaries chose significantly lower water temperatures. All groups exhibited behavioural fever recovering personality-specific thermal preferences after 5 days.5. Our results show that thermal preference can be used as a proxy to assess personality traits in Nile tilapia and it is a central factor to understand the adaptive meaning of animal personality within a population.Importantly, response to infection by expressing behavioural fever overrides personality related thermal choice.

Integrating thermal physiology within a syndrome: Locomotion, personality and habitat selection in an ectotherm

“…Pruitt et al., ) and endotherms (e.g. Careau et al., ), links between thermal physiology and animal personality have only been found in the former (Biro et al., ; Cerqueira et al., Goulet, Thompson, Michelangeli, et al., ; Rey et al., ; Stapley, ). For example Nile Tilapia ( Oreochromis niloticus ) that had proactive personalities (i.e.…”

“…Thermal physiology may influence animal personality via its direct effects on biological processes associated with behaviour, including locomotion, growth, endocrine function and energy budgets (Brodie & Russell, ; Goulet, Thompson, & Chapple, ; Goulet, Thompson, Michelangeli, et al., ). For example when operating at higher body temperatures imposed by increases in environmental temperatures, individuals have been shown to become more aggressive (Biro et al., ), active and explorative (Cerqueira et al., ), risk‐averse (Herrel, James, & Van Damme, ) and asocial (Pruitt, Demes, & Dittrich‐Reed, ). These behavioural patterns likely exist because increases in body temperature are associated with increases in energy metabolism.…”

“…Yet, despite a tight relationship between temperature, behaviour and metabolism, thermal physiology (i.e. optimal performance temperature, selected body temperature) is only recently being considered within the animal personality framework (Bestion, Clobert, & Cote, 2015;Cerqueira et al, 2016;Goulet, Ingley, Scarf, & Pruitt, 2016;Goulet, Thompson, Michelangeli, Wong, & Chapple, 2017;Rey, Digka, & MacKenzie, 2015). This has been a surprising oversight, as thermal physiology is potentially an inherent mechanism contributing to the maintenance of personality traits, particularly in species that need to behaviourally thermoregulate.…”

Emergence Time and Skin Melanin Spot Patterns Do Not Correlate with Growth Performance, Social Competitive Ability or Stress Response in Farmed Rainbow Trout

“…The development of high-throughput methods for SCS screening would facilitate this process, and make it applicable in the farming industry. Some methods are under development (see Castanheira et al, 2017 for a review) and are mostly based on punctual behavioral patterns observed after different challenges such as exposure to hypoxia or to other stimuli that can be perceived as threats by the fish (Laursen et al, 2011; Cerqueira et al, 2016; Ferrari et al, 2016; Castanheira et al, 2017). However, the temporal consistency of most of those patterns remains unclear and in some cases, a relatively high degree of randomness could be affecting the screening method.…”

Thermal stratification drives movement of a coastal apex predator

“…Movement is thus a good behavioural response with which to infer the thermal ecology of a fish species. Controlled laboratory experiments have shown that fish move across thermal gradients to attain a preferred temperature 17, 18 , and have allowed the researchers to investigate the response of an individual’s internal temperature to a fluctuating environment 16 . However, laboratory experiments are not feasible for large marine predators, and hence studies in the wild using acoustic telemetry and bio-logging technologies are a much more practical approach to study the thermal preference of these animals 10, 17, 19 .…”