title: Increased exposure to predators increases both exploration and activity level in Brachyrhaphis episcopi.
abstract: Two temperament traits, tendency to explore and activity level, were measured in a tropical poeciliid fish, the Panamanian bishop Brachyrhaphis episcopi. Open-field arena tests were used to quantify how predation pressure shapes activity levels and exploratory behaviours. Fish behaviour differed between high and low-predation populations. Fish that experienced higher levels of predation were both more explorative and more active. There were also some individual differences within populations; fish varied in their levels of exploration and activity in a novel open arena, but these differences were not related to sex or size. Together with previous studies on this species, these results indicate that there is a behavioural syndrome associated with predation pressure. Fish from high-predation populations are bolder, more explorative and more active than those from low-predation populations.
authors.affiliation: School of Forest Resources and Department of Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, U.S.A. gaa11@psu.edu
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Archard
authors.forename: V A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Braithwaite
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D003532:Cyprinodontiformes / Q000502:physiology*; D004777:Environment; D005106:Exploratory Behavior; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D010551:Personality; D011235:Predatory Behavior; D025341:Principal Component Analysis