DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Fitness tradeoffs in animal personalities across life stages

一个看似简单但意义重大的问题是，无论是对药物治疗的反应还是对行为互动的反应，为什么不同的人反应不同？对鱼类和其他脊椎动物的研究表明，在大胆和攻击性等行为上，个体之间的差异是一致的。这些个体间的行为差异被称为动物个性。根据该奖项开展的工作考察了北美一种重要的运动鱼--大口黑鱼个体行为变异的生态后果。到目前为止，只有少数几项研究调查了人格特征与该领域健康的各个组成部分之间的关系，更少的研究调查了个体之间的行为差异是否在人生各个阶段都是一致的。鱼类是研究不同生命阶段人格特征对生长、存活和繁殖成功影响的极佳研究生物。根据该奖项开展的工作将使用基于DNA的亲子关系分析来研究害羞/大胆行为的变化如何影响田间条件下大口黑鱼的健康状况的各个组成部分。这些田野研究的重点是青少年的成长和存活，成年男性和女性的生殖成功，人格类型的遗传性，以及不同生命阶段害羞/大胆人格类型的健康权衡。鲈鱼是北美最重要的经济鱼类之一，这项研究的结果将有助于决策者更好地管理这些鱼类和其他鱼类。虽然商业捕捞对鱼类种群的进化影响是众所周知的，但休闲垂钓(包括捕捞和放流捕鱼)对鱼类种群的影响在很大程度上是未知的。根据该奖项进行的研究将直接解决休闲垂钓如何影响低音行为和繁殖成功。这项研究的结果将通过演示和出版物向科学和非科学受众传达，包括通过凯洛格生物站的K-12教育计划的中学生。该项目出版物中使用的数据将存入Dryad(http://datadryad.org)

A seemingly simple but significan question is, whether in responses to drug treatment or behavioral interactions, why do different individuals respond differently? Research on fish and other vertebrates has demonstrated consistent inter-individual differences in behaviors such as boldness and aggression. These inter-individual differences in behavior have been termed animal personalities. The work conducted under this award examines the ecological consequences of individual behavioral variation in largemouth bass, an important North American sport fish. To date, only a handful of studies have investigated the relationship between personality traits and various components of fitness in the field, and even fewer studies have investigated whether inter-individual differences in behavior are consistent across life stages. Fish are excellent study organisms to investigate the impact of personality traits on growth, survival, and reproductive success at different life stages. The work conducted under this award will use DNA-based paternity analysis to examine how variation in shy/bold behavior affects various components of fitness in largemouth bass under field conditions. These field studies focus on juvenile growth and survival, adult male and female reproductive success, heritability of personality types, and the fitness tradeoffs of shy/bold personality types across life stages. Bass are one of the most economically important sport fish in North America and the results of this research will help inform decision makers on how to better manage these and other fish species. Although the evolutionary impacts of commercial harvest on fish populations are well-recognized, the effects of recreational angling (including catch and release fishing) on fish population are largely unknown. Research conducted under this award will directly address how recreational angling affects bass behaviors and reproductive success. Results from this research will be communicated through presentations and publications to scientific and non-scientific audiences, including secondary school students through K-12 education programs at the Kellogg Biological Station.Data used in publications from this project will be deposited into DRYAD (http://datadryad.org)