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Predator experience homogenizes consistent individual differences in predator avoidance

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Abstract

In the presence of predators, many prey species exhibit immediate behavioral responses like the avoidance of risky areas, which imposes opportunity costs, for instance, in the form of reduced foraging. Thus, prey species should be able to discriminate between different predator types and adjust their response to the imminent predation risk. In our current study, we evaluated the relative importance of innate versus learned components of predator recognition and avoidance in the guppy (Poecilia reticulata). We used a feral guppy population occurring in Germany and compared avoidance reactions of each focal individual towards both coevolved piscine predators from their original distribution range and novel, presently co-occurring predator species. Wild-caught, predator-experienced as well as laboratory-reared, predator-naïve individuals showed strong avoidance responses towards all predator animations. Avoidance was stronger in small-bodied than in large-bodied individuals in both cohorts; however, this effect was significant only in predator-naïve fish. Moreover, wild-caught individuals showed a significantly higher within-individual variance (across the six predator species) along with a lower among-individual variance in predator avoidance, which resulted in a lower behavioral repeatability in this cohort. Our results suggest that consistent individual differences in risk-taking behavior (also referred to as the personality trait ‘boldness’) are modified by predator exposure and learning about predators.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank H. Geupel and E.-M. Wörner for help with animal care. This research was partly funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG; PL 470/3–1) and the B-Types project funded through the Leibniz Competition (SAW-2013-IGB-2). Further financial support was received from the Gesellschaft für Ichthyologie (GfI). All experiments comply with current German law and were approved by Regierungspräsidium Darmstadt (V-54-19c-20/15-F104/Anz.18).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, People’s Republic of China

    Carolin Sommer-Trembo, Claudia Zimmer & Martin Plath

  2. Department of Ecology and Evolution, J.W. Goethe University Frankfurt, Max-von-Laue-Straße 13, 60438, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Carolin Sommer-Trembo, Claudia Zimmer & Jonas Jourdan

  3. Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiKF), Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Jonas Jourdan

  4. Department of Biology and Ecology of Fishes, Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Müggelseedamm 310, 12587, Berlin, Germany

    David Bierbach

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  1. Carolin Sommer-Trembo
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  3. Jonas Jourdan
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  4. David Bierbach
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Correspondence to Carolin Sommer-Trembo.

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Sommer-Trembo, C., Zimmer, C., Jourdan, J. et al. Predator experience homogenizes consistent individual differences in predator avoidance. J Ethol 34, 155–165 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-016-0460-1

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