Boldness as a consistent personality trait in the noble crayfish, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Astacus astacus</Emphasis> |
| |
Authors: | Anssi Vainikka Markus J Rantala Petri Niemelä Heikki Hirvonen Raine Kortet |
| |
Institution: | (1) Department of Biology, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 3000, 90014 Oulu, Finland;(2) Department of Biology, University of Turku, 20024 Turku, Finland;(3) Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, P. O. Box 65, 00014 Helsinki, Finland;(4) Department of Biology, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 111, 80101 Joensuu, Finland |
| |
Abstract: | Consistent individual differences in behavioural responses to perceived predation risk may have extensive ecological and evolutionary implications. We studied the repeatability of boldness across time and its relation to resource holding potential in the noble crayfish, Astacus astacus L., using predator-naïve immature individuals. We followed individual’s shelter use both with and without exposure to the chemical and physical cues of predators, and with and without the presence of a conspecific. In addition, we examined if armament, i.e. relative chelae size, would be correlated with individual differences in behaviour. Individuals showed repeatable behaviours across time and context. Individuals that occupied the shelter in competitive dyadic tests also spent more time in the shelter during individual control observations, suggesting that boldness is a personality trait that does not necessarily relate positively to high resource holding potential in the noble crayfish. The relative size of chelae did not correlate with any of the measured behavioural variables. Our results suggest that boldness can be considered as individually consistent and ecologically important personality trait in the noble crayfish. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|