Small Variations in Early-Life Environment Can Affect Coping Behaviour in Response to Foraging Challenge in the Three-Spined Stickleback.

ABSTRACT:

Context

An increasing concern in the face of human expansion throughout natural habitats is whether animal populations can respond adaptively when confronted with challenges like environmental change and novelty. Behavioural flexibility is an important factor in estimating the adaptive potential of both individuals and populations, and predicting the degree to which they can cope with change.

Study design

This study on the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) is an empiric illustration of the degree of behavioural variation that can emerge between semi-natural systems within only a single generation. Wild-caught adult sticklebacks (P, N = 400) were randomly distributed in equal densities over 20 standardized semi-natural environments (ponds), and one year later

SUBMITTER: Langenhof MR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4749203 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature