Institution: | 1. Univ Brest, CNRS, IRD, Ifremer, LEMAR, Plouzane, France;2. Univ Brest, CNRS, IRD, Ifremer, LEMAR, Plouzane, France
Kerazan Lilia, France Haliotis, Plouguerneau, France;3. Univ Brest, CNRS, IRD, Ifremer, LEMAR, Plouzane, France
School of Biological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Vic., Australia;4. Station Biologique de Roscoff, Integrative Biology of Marine Models, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR 8227, Sorbonne Universités, Roscoff Cedex, France
Station Biologique de Roscoff, Integrative Biology of Marine Models, UMR 8227, CNRS, Roscoff Cedex, France;5. Kerazan Lilia, France Haliotis, Plouguerneau, France |
Abstract: | While population foraging behaviour of herbivores has been extensively studied, individual choice is still poorly understood. Very few studies have focused on the individual consistency of foraging behaviour in marine herbivores. Because marine ectotherms are strongly influenced by their environment and because a mixed diet is appropriate for herbivores, we hypothesized that Haliotis tuberculata, a large marine gastropod, would not exhibit significant individual consistency in foraging activity and would display generalist food choices. To test these hypotheses, the behaviour of 120 abalone was studied using a choice test of eight macroalgal species over 3 weeks, with video recording 24 hr a day. In addition, primary components, secondary metabolites and toughness of the eight algae were measured. At the population level, food choice was mainly related to the protein composition and the toughness of the macroalgae. We found that H. tuberculata is a generalist species feeding on a variety of algae (IS = 0.64), even if 21% of the individuals can be considered to be specialists. However, in contrast to our hypothesis, highly consistent between-individual variation was observed in foraging activity (ICC = 0.81 for time spent feeding and ICC = 0.74 for number of feeding visits per day). The high individual consistency of foraging activity has some ecological and evolutionary implications currently not understood for this marine herbivore. |