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Individual Differences in Activity and Responses to a Predator Attack in Juvenile Smallmouth Bass (Micropterus Dolomieui)

Smith, Kelly Lynne
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1182192767

Abstract Details

2007, Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, Biological Sciences.
The correlation of individual behaviour in different environmental contexts, known as a behavioural syndrome, constrains the optimization of behaviour within each context and recent studies reveal that the strength of behavioural syndromes differs across populations and over individual ontogeny. In this study, exploratory behaviour in an unfamiliar environment and behavioural responses to a simulated predator attack in the presence of a food source were measured in juvenile smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieui) collected from an isolated population. The results of this study revealed a behavioural syndrome: individuals who actively explored the unfamiliar environment also behaved more boldly in the presence of a predator. This behavioural syndrome suggests that there is a tradeoff between active exploratory behaviour, which may increase encounter rates with valuable resources and provide knowledge about the environment, and boldness in predator avoidance behaviour, which could result in increased exposure to predators. The population from which subjects were collected for this study has an unusually high abundance of smallmouth bass and the main predators at the juvenile life stage in the population are conspecific adults and larger juveniles. Previous studies have shown that fishes from systems with a diverse predation regime are more likely to exhibit behavioral correlations across contexts than populations that experience a less diverse predation regime, but this study suggests that predator density may also be an important factor in inducing behavioural correlations across contexts.
Jeffrey Miner (Advisor)
26 p.
Biology, Ecology
Behavioural syndromes; smallmouth bass; Micropterus dolomieui; activity; predation; correlated traits

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Smith, K. L. (2007). Individual Differences in Activity and Responses to a Predator Attack in Juvenile Smallmouth Bass (Micropterus Dolomieui) [Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1182192767

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Smith, Kelly. Individual Differences in Activity and Responses to a Predator Attack in Juvenile Smallmouth Bass (Micropterus Dolomieui). 2007. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1182192767.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Smith, Kelly. "Individual Differences in Activity and Responses to a Predator Attack in Juvenile Smallmouth Bass (Micropterus Dolomieui)." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2007. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1182192767

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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© 2007, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.