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Provenance and threat-sensitive predator avoidance patterns in wild-caught Trinidadian guppies

Title:

Provenance and threat-sensitive predator avoidance patterns in wild-caught Trinidadian guppies

Brown, Grant E., Macnaughton, Camille J., Elvidge, Chris K., Ramnarine, Indar and Godin, Jean-Guy J. (2009) Provenance and threat-sensitive predator avoidance patterns in wild-caught Trinidadian guppies. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 63 (5). pp. 699-706. ISSN 0340-5443

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00265-008-0703-4

Abstract

The antipredator behaviour of prey organisms is shaped by a series of threat-sensitive trade-offs between the benefits associated with successful predator avoidance and a suite of other fitness-related behaviours such as foraging, mating and territorial defence. Recent research has shown that the overall intensity of antipredator response and the pattern of threat-sensitive trade-offs are influenced by current conditions, including variability in predation risk over a period of days to weeks. Here, we tested the hypothesis that long-term predation pressure will likewise have shaped the nature of the threat-sensitive antipredator behaviour of wild-caught Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata). Female guppies were collected two populations that have evolved under high- and low-predation pressure, respectively, in the Aripo River, Northern Mountain Range, Trinidad. Under laboratory conditions, we exposed shoals of three guppies to varying concentrations of conspecific damage-released chemical alarm cues. Lower Aripo (high-predation) guppies exhibited the strongest antipredator response when exposed to the highest alarm cue concentration and a graded decline in response intensity with decreasing concentrations of alarm cue. Upper Aripo (low-predation) guppies, however, exhibited a nongraded (hypersensitive) response pattern. Our results suggest that long-term predation pressure shapes not only the overall intensity of antipredator responses of Trinidadian guppies, but also their threat-sensitive behavioural response patterns.

Divisions:Concordia University > Faculty of Arts and Science > Biology
Item Type:Article
Refereed:Yes
Authors:Brown, Grant E. and Macnaughton, Camille J. and Elvidge, Chris K. and Ramnarine, Indar and Godin, Jean-Guy J.
Journal or Publication:Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
Date:2009
Funders:
  • NSERC
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):10.1007/s00265-008-0703-4
ID Code:6494
Deposited By: Grant Brown
Deposited On:12 Feb 2010 21:53
Last Modified:18 Jan 2018 17:29
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