title: Telomere length covaries with personality in wild brown trout.
abstract: The prevalence of consistent among-individual differences in behaviour, or personality, makes adaptive sense if individuals differ in stable state variables that shift the balance between the costs and benefits of their behavioural decisions. These differences may give rise to both individual differences in, and covariance among, behaviours that influence an individual's exposure to risks. We here study the link between behaviour and a candidate state variable previously overlooked in the study of state-dependent personality variation: telomere length. Telomeres are the protective endcaps of chromosomes and their erosion with age is thought to play a crucial role in regulating organismal senescence and intrinsic lifespan. Following evidence that shorter telomeres may reduce the lifespan of animals in a wide range of taxa, we predict individuals with shorter telomeres to behave more boldly and aggressively. In order to test this, we measured telomere length and behaviour in wild juvenile brown trout (Salmo trutta). We found individuals with shorter fin telomeres to behave consistently more boldly and aggressively under controlled conditions in the laboratory. No such relationship was found with muscle telomere length 3-4months after the behavioural assays. We suggest that telomere dynamics are an important factor integrating personality traits with other state variables thought to be important in the regulation of behaviour, such as metabolism, disease resistance and growth.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Graham Kerr Building, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK. Electronic address: bart.adriaenssens@glasgow.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Bart
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Adriaenssens
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Box 463, 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pauliny
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Box 463, 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Donald
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Blomqvist
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Box 463, 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Jörgen I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Johnsson
mesh_terms: D000374:Aggression; D000818:Animals; D049628:Body Size / Q000235:genetics; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D008136:Longevity / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D010551:Personality; D010641:Phenotype; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D016615:Telomere / Q000502:physiology*; D059506:Telomere Shortening; D014337:Trout
keywords: Animal personality; Behavioural syndromes; Life-history; State dependent behaviour; Telomere dynamics