鱼类“个性”行为及其研究进展

种内个体差异是动物界普遍存在的现象。鱼类"个性"(personality)行为指不同时空条件下个体间行为的稳定差异,一般与"性格(temperament)"及"行为表达谱(behavioral syndromes)"同义。"个性"行为反映了动物的生活史策略,并与其种群动态、遗传变异以及物种形成等紧密关联。本文阐明了"个性"行为的定义及其内涵、综述了鱼类勇敢性、开拓性、活动性、攻击性、社会性等"个性"行为的研究进展及其潜在的神经生物学、生理学、遗传学和生态学机制,并对未来鱼类"个性"行为的理论研究及其应用进行了展望。     

动物个性研究进展

"个性"是指不同时空条件下动物种群个体间行为的稳定差异。大量的理论和实验性研究表明,个性差异在动物界普遍存在,其是种群多度和分布、物种共存及群落构建的重要驱动因子。介绍了动物个性的概念、分类及衡量指标,将前人测量个性类型的方法加以总结;随后介绍了动物个性的生态学意义,尤其是个性对动物生活史策略、种群分布与多度、群落结构和动态、生态系统功能和过程以及疾病与信息传播等的影响。在此基础上,进一步分析了在人类活动增加等全球变化背景下,动物个性如何调控动物个体行为、种群和群落动态对这些环境变化的响应。阐述了动物个性的形成与维持机制,并对未来的研究方向进行了展望。     

浅谈外温性动物活动节律的研究方法

外温动物俗称冷血动物,一般情况而言是指鱼类、两栖类和爬行类动物的统称。通过对其活动节律的研究能起到更好的认识、保护和利用的作用。本文通过简单介绍各种情况和不同种类的研究方法,以及国内外相关研究的举例举,对以后的相关研究的实验方法提供相关选择和帮助。     

鱼类性外激素的研究进展

外激素(Pheromon)是指动物释放于体外的,能引起同种另一个体产生一种或多种特异性反应的化学物质。外激素在动物个体间的化学通讯中起着非常重要的作用,国内外学者对外激素的研究多集中在昆虫和哺乳动物。近年来,对鱼类性外激素(Sexpheromone)的研究受到越来越多的重视,一方面,性外激素在吸引异性。       

“水生动物行为”专辑责编简介

行为学研究越来越受到动物科研工作者的重视, 尤其是动物个性研究。然而, 目前在个性的概念、实验设计和统计方法上仍存在不少问题, 因而规范行为学研究方法有着十分重要的意义。鉴于以上目的, 文章对动物个性和行为集概念的发展过程进行了简要回顾, 并归纳了动物个性和行为集研究的实验设计和目前最佳的数据统计分析方法。这些标准的建立, 可以帮助科研人员避免动物个性研究中常见的错误, 使个性研究的设计更加缜密、实验结果更加可靠, 从而推动行为生态学的蓬勃发展。     

不同海拔高原鼠兔个性特征与SERT基因多态性关联

个性特征是指动物个体间稳定、可遗传的行为差异,与相关基因多态性有关,反映了动物对环境的适应模式,探究个性相关基因变异,将有助于更好地理解动物对环境的适应与进化机制。本文以高原鼠兔 (Ochotona curzoniae) 为对象,研究了5个不同海拔地区高原鼠兔的个性 (探究性、勇敢性和温顺性) 差异特征,并检测了个性相关基因5-羟色胺转运体 (SERT) 的单核苷酸多态性 (SNP) 和mRNA表达。结果发现,高海拔地区高原鼠兔的探究性和勇敢性显著高于低海拔地区,而高海拔地区高原鼠兔SERT基因mRNA表达量显著低于低海拔地区,提示不同海拔高原鼠兔个性特征差异可能与SERT基因mRNA表达有所关联。进一步检测不同海拔地区高原鼠兔SERT基因多态性及其分布差异情况,发现该基因存在6个SNP (其中5个位于外显子3,1个位于外显子5 );不同海拔地区鼠兔基因分布差异分析显示外显子5的c.A1063C 同义突变与海拔之间存在显著相关,高海拔地区该位点CC基因型分布频率显著高于低海拔地区;c.A1063C的基因型虽然与探究性、勇敢性无显著相关,但与温顺性显著相关。综上所述,随着海拔升高,高原鼠兔探究性和勇敢性增加,这有利于动物获取更多的食物资源,进而增加其生存机会。与此同时,SERT基因多态性显示与不同海拔地区的生存环境相适应的特征,且与温顺性有关,暗示不同海拔高原鼠兔个性差异可能与SERT基因SNP的差异有关。本研究从基因表达与突变的角度尝试阐述高原鼠兔适应不同海拔环境的行为差异,显示了不同海拔地区高原鼠兔行为生存策略潜在的分子机制。     

动物和植物远缘杂交比较研究

远缘杂交是指不同物种之间的杂交,它可以是种间、属间甚至亲缘关系更远的物种之间杂交.远缘杂交可以把属于不同种、属等远缘遗传关系的不同个体的生物特性结合起来,突破种间界限,扩大遗传变异,是创制具有遗传变异、可育、优良性状的新品系乃至新种群的重要方法.本文在分析和归纳大量国内外有关动物和植物远缘杂交文献的基础上,结合本实验室长期从事鱼类远缘杂交的研究结果,在对动物和植物远缘杂交实验的具体例子进行描述和分析的基础上,比较和总结了动、植物中远缘杂交形成不同倍性生物后代的主要生物学特性;概述了动物和植物远缘杂交的相似性和差异性;分析和归纳了导致动物和植物远缘杂交形成存活和不存活后代的可能原因;还对动物和植物远缘杂交后代的形态学、细胞学和分子细胞遗传学等生物学特性研究的方法进行了介绍.旨在为系统地比较动物和植物远缘杂交的遗传、繁殖、生长性状等生物学特性提供较系统的研究资料,以阐明它们在遗传育种和生物进化方面的共性作用及重要意义.     

重复垂钓对鲫幼鱼易钓性和能量代谢及个性的影响

先捕后放是一种重要的鱼类资源保护策略和渔业管理手段。经历先捕后放的被钓鱼类个体的生理与行为会发生变化。当这些个体再次面对人工垂钓诱饵时,可能会呈现更加谨慎的摄饵或鱼钩回避行为。为考察重复垂钓对鱼类易钓性、能量代谢和个性的影响,本研究以鲤科鱼类鲫(Carassius auratus)幼鱼为实验对象,在(25.3±0.1)℃水温条件下对垂钓组和对照组进行3次的能量代谢(标准代谢率,SMR;最大代谢,MMR)和个性(勇敢性、活跃性)测定。其中,垂钓组需进行垂钓实验,而对照组不进行任何垂钓操作。研究发现：(1)重复垂钓显著降低鲫幼鱼的垂钓率,但明显增加单尾平均垂钓时间和整体死亡率。(2)重复垂钓降低鲫幼鱼的体重、肥满度、SMR、MMR、代谢空间(AS)和相对代谢空间(FAS),但整体上不影响勇敢性和活跃性。(3)在测定Ⅰ中,高易钓性个体的体长和开阔区运动时间比大于低易钓性个体,但前者的肥满度小于后者。然而,在测定Ⅱ和Ⅲ中,高易钓性个体的形态参数、能量代谢、个性(勇敢性和活跃性)与低易钓性个体并无差异。研究表明：重复垂钓明显降低鲫幼鱼的易钓性,并且种内个体易钓性的变化方向不尽相同;重复垂钓对鲫幼...     

鱼类社群等级及其在水产增养殖中的应用

社群等级是鱼类行为生态学研究的重要内容。鱼类社群等级是指社会性鱼类通过种内竞争在群体内形成的具有一定顺序的等级序列,会对其生理和行为产生重要影响。在鱼类育苗和养殖过程中,社群等级可能导致攻击行为增加、生理压力增大、生长离散加剧,对鱼类福利产生不利影响。本文综述了近年来国内外有关鱼类社群等级及其影响因素的研究概况,指出鱼类社群等级主要受基因、个性、代谢、个体大小、社群经验等自身条件以及群体密度、饵料丰度、隐蔽物等环境因素的影响。同时,介绍了鱼类社群等级的实验设计与判别方法,探讨了以往鱼类社群等级研究的不足,提出了社群等级研究的发展趋势以及今后应聚焦的研究内容。本文旨在为中国开展该领域研究提供借鉴,并为鱼类育苗、养殖生产中合理规避社群等级带来的不利影响,提高鱼类福利,优化增养殖技术提供科学依据。     

鼠类种内个性差异对种子传播影响的研究进展

鼠类–植物种子互作关系是森林生态系统研究的重点之一,对森林生态系统结构和功能维持具有重要意义。许多研究关注了鼠类的行为习性、种群动态、群落结构、种间合作与竞争以及植物的种子特征和环境因素等对鼠类与植物种子取食和传播关系的影响。然而,从种群内个体差异的角度探讨鼠类种子传播作用的研究较少,鼠类种内特征(尤其是鼠类个性)为理解种子命运的巨大变化提供了另一种方法。近年来,动物的个性及其生态效应逐渐受到关注,但是将动物的个性与种子传播等生态服务联系起来的理论和研究案例较为少见,妨碍了人们对动物个性如何影响种子传播进而影响植物更新机制的理解。本文结合近年来动物个性研究进展,初步阐述了鼠类个性研究现状;介绍了测量鼠类个性的常用方法(如旷场实验、出现实验和洞板实验等)以及这些方法测量了鼠类哪些个性;着重讨论了鼠类个性对植物种子传播的影响,强调了鼠类单一个性(如勇敢性、活跃性和探索性等)与种子传播的关系;总结了鼠类个性介导种子传播的生态、进化和保护意义。在今后的研究中要设计适合的野生鼠个性测量方法,长期监测不同个性鼠类与种子传播的关系,实现理论预测和实证研究的整合。     

Predation risk and abiotic habitat parameters affect personality traits in extremophile populations of a neotropical fish (Poecilia vivipara)

Understanding whether and how ambient ecological conditions affect the distribution of personality types within and among populations lies at the heart of research on animal personality. Several studies have focussed on only one agent of divergent selection (or driver of plastic changes in behavior), considering either predation risk or a single abiotic ecological factor. Here, we investigated how an array of abiotic and biotic environmental factors simultaneously shape population differences in boldness, activity in an open‐field test, and sociability/shoaling in the livebearing fish Poecilia vivipara from six ecologically different lagoons in southeastern Brazil. We evaluated the relative contributions of variation in predation risk, water transparency/visibility, salinity (ranging from oligo‐ to hypersaline), and dissolved oxygen. We also investigated the role played by environmental factors for the emergence, strength, and direction of behavioral correlations. Water transparency explained most of the behavioral variation, whereby fish from lagoons with low water transparency were significantly shyer, less active, and shoaled less than fish living under clear water conditions. When we tested additional wild‐caught fish from the same lagoons after acclimating them to homogeneous laboratory conditions, population differences were largely absent, pointing toward behavioral plasticity as a mechanism underlying the observed behavioral differences. Furthermore, we found correlations between personality traits (behavioral syndromes) to vary substantially in strength and direction among populations, with no obvious associations with ecological factors (including predation risk). Altogether, our results suggest that various habitat parameters simultaneously shape the distribution of personality types, with abiotic factors playing a vital (as yet underestimated) role. Furthermore, while predation is often thought to lead to the emergence of behavioral syndromes, our data do not support this assumption.     

Environmental rearing conditions produce forebrain differences in wild Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha

Recent studies suggest that hatchery-reared fish can have smaller brain-to-body size ratios than wild fish. It is unclear, however, whether these differences are due to artificial selection or instead reflect differences in rearing environment during development. Here we explore how rearing conditions influence the development of two forebrain structures, the olfactory bulb and the telencephalon, in juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) spawned from wild-caught adults. First, we compared the sizes of the olfactory bulb and telencephalon between salmon reared in a wild stream vs. a conventional hatchery. We next compared the sizes of forebrain structures between fish reared in an enriched NATURES hatchery and fish reared in a conventional hatchery. All fish were size-matched and from the same genetic cohort. We found that olfactory bulb and telencephalon volumes relative to body size were significantly larger in wild fish compared to hatchery-reared fish. However, we found no differences between fish reared in enriched and conventional hatchery treatments. Our results suggest that significant differences in the volume of the olfactory bulb and telencephalon between hatchery and wild-reared fish can occur within a single generation.     

Personality effects on spatial learning: Comparisons between visual conditions in a weakly electric fish

Recent research has explored links between cognition and personality, with prominent hypotheses proposing that personality drives consistent individual differences in cognitive function. These hypotheses particularly expect bolder individuals to be faster, but less accurate, as a trade‐off in cognitive function. However, cognitive processes are typically interconnected and defined in more complex terms than simply speed and accuracy. Here, we present evidence that personality‐based differences in learning rates are a result of differences in decision‐making during training in a two‐alternative forced‐choice spatial memory task. This was examined in the mormyrid fish Gnathonemus petersii in the presence of light, where both vision and the electric sense are available, and in the dark, where visibility is limited and fish rely mostly on electrosensing. The species is adapted for the dark to avoid visual predators; thus, the presence of light can induce high‐risk and the dark low‐risk. We show that light conditions had little effect on learning, with bolder fish learning faster both in the light and in the dark conditions. Yet the relationship between learning rates and error rates indicates that the effect on learning is indirectly influenced by accuracy during training. Speed‐accuracy trade‐offs were not found in decision‐making, with bolder individuals deciding faster and more accurately both in the light and in the dark. Only learning strategy was affected by light conditions, with significantly more fish preferring response to place learning in the dark than in the light, where distal cues were not visible. We conclude that other than effects from the integration of visual information, bolder individuals show a consistently greater tendency to explore and find food rewards during training. This affects their decision‐making and in turn their learning performance. We highlight the complexity by which personality‐based effects are exhibited in spatial associative learning.     

Personality and Affinities Play a Key Role in the Organisation of Collective Movements in a Group of Domestic Horses

Understanding how groups of individuals with different motives come to daily decisions about the exploitation of their environment is a key question in animal behaviour. While interindividual differences are often seen only as a threat to group cohesion, growing evidence shows that they may to some extent facilitate effective collective action. Recent studies suggest that personality differences influence how individuals are attracted to conspecifics and affect their behaviour as an initiator or a follower. However, most of the existing studies are limited to a few taxa, mainly social fish and arthropods. Horses are social herbivores that live in long‐lasting groups and show identifiable personality differences between individuals. We studied a group of 38 individuals living in a 30‐ha hilly pasture. Over 200 h, we sought to identify how far individual differences such as personality and affinity distribution affect the dynamic of their collective movements. First, we report that individuals distribute their relationships according to similar personality and hierarchical rank. This is the first study that demonstrates a positive assortment between unrelated individuals according to personality in a mammal species. Second, we measured individual propensity to initiate and found that bold individuals initiated more often than shy individuals. However, their success in terms of number of followers and joining duration did not depend on their individual characteristics. Moreover, joining process is influenced by social network, with preferred partners following each other and bolder individuals being located more often at the front of the movement. Our results illustrate the importance of taking into account interindividual behavioural differences in studies of social behaviours.     

To boldly go: individual differences in boldness influence migratory tendency

Partial migration, whereby only a fraction of the population migrates, is thought to be the most common type of migration in the animal kingdom, and can have important ecological and evolutionary consequences. Despite this, the factors that influence which individuals migrate and which remain resident are poorly understood. Recent work has shown that consistent individual differences in personality traits in animals can be ecologically important, but field studies integrating personality traits with migratory behaviour are extremely rare. In this study, we investigate the influence of individual boldness, an important personality trait, upon the migratory propensity of roach, a freshwater fish, over two consecutive migration seasons. We assay and individually tag 460 roach and show that boldness influences migratory propensity, with bold individuals being more likely to migrate than shy fish. Our data suggest that an extremely widespread personality trait in animals can have significant ecological consequences via influencing individual-level migratory behaviour.     

Taking a Comparative Approach: Analysing Personality as a Multivariate Behavioural Response across Species

Animal personality, repeatable behaviour through time and across contexts, is ecologically and evolutionarily important as it can account for the exhibition of sub-optimal behaviours. Interspecific comparisons have been suggested as important for understanding the evolution of animal personality; however, these are seldom accomplished due, in part, to the lack of statistical tools for quantifying differences and similarities in behaviour between groups of individuals. We used nine species of closely-related coral reef fishes to investigate the usefulness of ecological community analyses for the analysis of between-species behavioural differences and behavioural heterogeneity. We first documented behavioural carryover across species by observing the fishes' behaviour and measuring their response to a threatening stimulus to quantify boldness. Bold fish spent more time away from the reef and fed more than shy fish. We then used ecological community analysis tools (canonical variate analysis, multi-response permutation procedure, and permutational analysis of multivariate dispersion) and identified four 'clusters' of behaviourally similar fishes, and found that the species differ in the behavioural variation expressed; some species are more behaviourally heterogeneous than others. We found that ecological community analysis tools are easily and fruitfully applied to comparative studies of personality and encourage their use by future studies.     

Small within-day increases in temperature affects boldness and alters personality in coral reef fish

Consistent individual differences in behaviour, termed personality, are common in animal populations and can constrain their responses to ecological and environmental variation, such as temperature. Here, we show for the first time that normal within-daytime fluctuations in temperature of less than 3°C have large effects on personality for two species of juvenile coral reef fish in both observational and manipulative experiments. On average, individual scores on three personality traits (PTs), activity, boldness and aggressiveness, increased from 2.5- to sixfold as a function of temperature. However, whereas most individuals became more active, aggressive and bold across temperature contexts (were plastic), others did not; this changed the individual rank order across temperatures and thus altered personality. In addition, correlations between PTs were consistent across temperature contexts, e.g. fish that were active at a given temperature also tended to be both bold and aggressive. These results (i) highlight the importance of very carefully controlling for temperature when studying behavioural variation among and within individuals and (ii) suggest that individual differences in energy metabolism may contribute to animal personality, given that temperature has large direct effects on metabolic rates in ectotherms.     

The Personality Behind Cheating: Behavioural Types and the Feeding Ecology of Cleaner Fish

The complex mutualistic relationship between the cleaner fish (Labroides dimidiatus) and their ‘clients’ in many reef systems throughout the world has been the subject of debate and research interest for decades. Game‐theory models have long struggled with explaining how the mixed strategies of cheating and honesty might have evolved in such a system and while significant efforts have been made theoretically, demonstrating the nature of this relationship empirically remains an important research challenge. Using the experimental framework of behavioural syndromes, we sought to quantitatively assess the relationship between personality and the feeding ecology of cleaner fish to provide novel insights into the underlying mechanistic basis of cheating in cleaner‐client interactions. First, we observed and filmed cleaner fish interactions with heterospecifics, movement patterns and general feeding ecology in the wild. We then captured and measured all focal individuals and tested them for individual consistency in measures of activity, exploration and risk taking (boldness) in the laboratory. Our results suggest a syndrome incorporating aspects of personality and foraging effort are central components of the behavioural ecology of L. dimidiatus on the Great Barrier Reef. We found that individuals that exhibited greater feeding effort tended to cheat proportionately less and move over smaller distances relative to bolder more active, exploratory individuals. Our study demonstrates for the first time that individual differences in personality might be mechanistically involved in explaining how the mixed strategies of cheating and honesty persist in cleaner fish mutualisms.     

Personality Variation in Little Brown Bats

Animal personality or temperament refers to individual differences in behaviour that are repeatable over time and across contexts. Personality has been linked to life-history traits, energetic traits and fitness, with implications for the evolution of behaviour. Personality has been quantified for a range of taxa (e.g., fish, songbirds, small mammals) but, so far, there has been little work on personality in bats, despite their diversity and potential as a model taxon for comparative studies. We used a novel environment test to quantify personality in little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) and assess the short-term repeatability of a range of behaviours. We tested the hypothesis that development influences values of personality traits and predicted that trait values associated with activity would increase between newly volant, pre-weaning young-of-the-year (YOY) and more mature, self-sufficient YOY. We identified personality dimensions that were consistent with past studies of other taxa and found that these traits were repeatable over a 24-hour period. Consistent with our prediction, older YOY captured at a fall swarming site prior to hibernation had higher activity scores than younger YOY bats captured at a maternity colony, suggesting that personality traits vary as development progresses in YOY bats. Thus, we found evidence of short-term consistency of personality within individuals but with the potential for temporal flexibility of traits, depending on age.     

Water‐borne and plasma corticosterone are not correlated in spotted salamanders

Water‐borne hormone measurement is a noninvasive method suitable for amphibians of all sizes that are otherwise difficult to sample. For this method, containment‐water is assayed for hormones released by the animal. Originally developed in fish, the method has expanded to amphibians, but requires additional species‐specific validations. We wanted to determine physiological relevance of water‐borne corticosterone in spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum) by comparing concentrations to those taken using established corticosterone sampling methods, such as plasma. Using a mixture of field and laboratory studies, we compared water‐borne corticosterone levels to other traditional methods of sampling corticosterone for spotted salamander larvae, metamorphs, and adults. Despite multiple attempts, and detecting differences between age groups, we found no correlations between water‐borne and plasma corticosterone levels in any age group. Water‐borne sampling measures a rate of release; whereas plasma is the concentration circulating in the blood. The unique units of measurement may inherently prevent correlations between the two. These two methods may also require different interpretations of the data and the physiological meaning. We also note caveats with the method, including how to account for differences in body size and life history stages. Collectively, our results illustrate the importance of careful validation of water‐borne hormone levels in each species in order to understand its physiological significance.