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Personality trait differences between mainland and island populations in the common frog (Rana temporaria)

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Abstract

Understanding and predicting species range expansions is an important challenge in modern ecology because of rapidly changing environments. Recent studies have revealed that consistent within-species variation in behavior (i.e., animal personality) can be imperative for dispersal success, a key process in range expansion. Here we investigate how habitat isolation can mediate differentiation of personality traits between recently founded island populations and the main population. We performed laboratory studies of boldness and exploration across life stages (tadpoles and froglets) using four isolated island populations and four mainland populations of the common frog (Rana temporaria). Both tadpoles and froglets from isolated populations were bolder and more exploratory than conspecifics from the mainland. Although the pattern can be influenced by possible differences in predation pressure, we suggest that this behavioral differentiation might be the result of a disperser-dependent founder effect brought on by an isolation-driven environmental filtering of animal personalities. These findings can have important implications for both species persistence in the face of climate change (i.e., range expansions) and ecological invasions as well as for explaining rapid speciation in isolated patches.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Kelly Weinersmith for valuable comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. This research was supported by grants from the Swedish Research Council to TB and FJ.

Ethical standards

All procedures involving handling of frogs were permitted by the ethical committee on animal experiments in Umeå and comply with current Swedish law.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, SE-901 87, Umeå, Sweden

    Tomas Brodin, Martin I. Lind, Miria Kaltiala Wiberg & Frank Johansson

  2. Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK

    Martin I. Lind

  3. Department of Ecology and Genetics, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, S-75236, Uppsala, Sweden

    Frank Johansson

Authors
  1. Tomas Brodin
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  2. Martin I. Lind
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  4. Frank Johansson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tomas Brodin.

Additional information

Communicated by J. Christensen-Dalsgaard

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Brodin, T., Lind, M.I., Wiberg, M.K. et al. Personality trait differences between mainland and island populations in the common frog (Rana temporaria). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 67, 135–143 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-012-1433-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-012-1433-1

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