Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Effects of acclimatisation on behavioural repeatability in two behaviour assays of the guppy Poecilia reticulata

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Establishing behavioural repeatability is important in animal personality research; however, a range of factors can influence repeatability. Experimental design, particularly acclimation time, is important in managing a subject’s stress prior to the onset of behavioural observations. Acclimatisation also ensures we capture “normal” behaviour and promotes consistency in the subject’s responses between observations. The importance of acclimatisation prior to an assay is widely recognised by animal researchers; however, acclimation time varies dramatically across personality studies. Here, we investigated the effects of acclimatisation time on the repeatability of activity and emergence behaviour in feral and domestic populations of lab-reared guppy, Poecilia reticulata. Contrary with expectations and previous findings, we found highest repeatability in guppy activity levels after 2 h of acclimation to the test arena. In the emergence assay, fish exposed to 10 min of acclimatisation showed highest repeatability; however, all acclimation periods produced high repeatability, suggesting that the emergence assay generates robust behavioural responses irrespective of acclimation time. The outcomes were broadly consistent across both populations. These results show that methodology can impact the findings of animal personality research and needs to be considered carefully for each assay. We recommend that researchers investigate appropriate acclimatisation times for their study species prior to commencing research.

Significance statement

Animal personality is individual differences in behaviour that are maintained through time and across contexts. Thus, demonstrating the repeatability of behavioural differences between individuals is imperative to establishing animal personality. To estimate repeatability, individuals are assessed multiple times on the same task to ensure there are consistent differences between individuals. When carrying out repeated observations, acclimatisation time should be considered to minimise stress levels of an animal prior to the behavioural assay. We assessed a range of acclimation times on emergence and activity behaviour in two populations of guppies. While individual variation in emergence behaviour was repeatable across a range of acclimation times, activity levels in guppies became significantly more repeatable after 2 h of acclimatisation. These results show that considering proper acclimation time is important when performing behavioural experiments and should be properly calibrated by researchers prior to conducting personality research.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Balcombe JP, Barnard ND, Sandusky C (2004) Laboratory routines cause animal stress. J Am Assoc Lab Anim 43:42–51

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Barton BA, Iwama GK (1991) Physiological changes in fish from stress in aquaculture with emphasis on the response and effects of corticosteroids. Annu Rev Fish Dis 1:3–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bates D, Maechler M, Bolker B, Walker S (2015) Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. J Stat Softw 67:48

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beckmann C, Biro PA (2013) On the validity of a single (boldness) assay in personality research. Ethology 119:937–947

    Google Scholar 

  • Bell AM (2005) Behavioural differences between individuals and two populations of stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). J Evol Biol 18:464–473

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bell AM, Peeke HV (2012) Individual variation in habituation: behaviour over time toward different stimuli in threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus). Behaviour 149:1339–1365

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bell AM, Sih A (2007) Exposure to predation generates personality in threespined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus). Ecol Lett 10:828–834

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bell AM, Hankison SJ, Laskowski KL (2009) The repeatability of behaviour: a meta-analysis. Anim Behav 77:771–783

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Biro PA (2012) Do rapid assays predict repeatability in labile (behavioural) traits? Anim Behav 83:1295–1300

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Biro PA, Stamps JA (2008) Are animal personality traits linked to life-history productivity? Trends Ecol Evol 23:361–368

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Biro PA, Beckmann C, Stamps JA (2010) Small within-day increases in temperature affects boldness and alters personality in coral reef fish. Proc R Soc Lond B 277:71–77

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Briffa M, Bridger D, Biro PA (2013) How does temperature affect behaviour? Multilevel analysis of plasticity, personality and predictability in hermit crabs. Anim Behav 86:47–54

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown C (2001) Familiarity with the test environment improves escape responses in the crimson spotted rainbowfish, Melanotaenia duboulayi. Anim Cogn 4:109–113

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown C, Braithwaite VA (2004) Size matters: a test of boldness in eight populations of the poeciliid Brachyraphis episcopi. Anim Behav 68:1325–1329

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown C, Jones F, Braithwaite V (2005) In situ examination of boldness–shyness traits in the tropical poeciliid, Brachyraphis episcopi. Anim Behav 70:1003–1009

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown C, Burgess F, Braithwaite VA (2007) Heritable and experiential effects on boldness in a tropical poeciliid. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 62:237–243

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burnham KP, Anderson DR (2004) Multimodel inference: understanding AIC and BIC in model selection. Sociol Methods Res 33:261–304

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burns JG (2008) The validity of three tests of temperament in guppies (Poecilia reticulata). J Comp Psychol 122:344–356

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caldji C, Francis D, Sharma S, Plotsky PM, Meaney MJ (2000) The effects of early rearing environment on the development of GABA A and central benzodiazepine receptor levels and novelty-induced fearfulness in the rat. Neuropsychopharmacol 22:219–229

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Carter AJ, Feeney WE, Marshall HH, Cowlishaw G, Heinsohn R (2013) Animal personality: what are behavioural ecologists measuring? Biol Rev 88:465–475

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chapman BB, Hulthén K, Blomqvist DR, Hansson LA, Nilsson JÅ, Brodersen J, Anders Nilsson P, Skov C, Brönmark C (2011) To boldly go: individual differences in boldness influence migratory tendency. Ecol Lett 14:871–876

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cote J, Fogarty S, Tymen B, Sih A, Brodin T (2013) Personality-dependent dispersal cancelled under predation risk. Proc R Soc B 280:20132349

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dingemanse NJ, Wright J, Kazem AJ, Thomas DK, Hickling R, Dawnay N (2007) Behavioural syndromes differ predictably between 12 populations of three-spined stickleback. J Anim Ecol 76:1128–1138

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dingemanse NJ, van der Plas F, Wright J, Réale D, Schrama M, Roff DA, van der Zee E, Barber I (2009) Individual experience and evolutionary history of predation affect expression of heritable variation in fish personality and morphology. Proc R Soc Lond B 276:285–293

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hannes R-P, Franck D (1983) The effect of social isolation on androgen and corticosteroid levels in a cichlid fish (Haplochromis burtoni) and in swordtails (Xiphophorus helleri). Horm Behav 17:292–301

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jenkins SH (2011) Sex differences in repeatability of food-hoarding behaviour of kangaroo rats. Anim Behav 81:1155–1162

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jolles JW, Aaron Taylor B, Manica A (2016) Recent social conditions affect boldness repeatability in individual sticklebacks. Anim Behav 112:139–145

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones KA, Godin J-GJ (2010) Are fast explorers slow reactors? Linking personality type and anti-predator behaviour. Proc R Soc B Biol Sci 277(1681):625–632

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kalb N, Lindström K, Sprenger D, Anthes N, Heubel KU (2016) Male personality and female spawning consistency in a goby with exclusive male care. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 70:683–693

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kekäläinen J, Lai Y-T, Vainikka A, Sirkka I, Kortet R (2014) Do brain parasites alter host personality?—experimental study in minnows. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 68:197–204

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leblond C, Reebs SG (2006) Individual leadership and boldness in shoals of golden shiners (Notemigonus crysoleucas). Behaviour 143:1263–1280

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lichtenstein JLL, DiRienzo N, Knutson K, Kuo C, Zhao KC, Brittingham HA, Geary SE, Ministero S, Rice HK, David Z, Scharf I, Pruitt JN (2016) Prolonged food restriction decreases body condition and reduces repeatability in personality traits in web-building spiders. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 70:1793–1803

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nakagawa S, Schielzeth H (2010) Repeatability for Gaussian and non-Gaussian data: a practical guide for biologists. Biol Rev 85:935–956

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nakagawa S, Schielzeth H (2013) A general and simple method for obtaining R2 from generalized linear mixed-effects models. Methods Ecol Evol 4:133–142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Mara KM, Wong MYL (2016) Body size mediated effects of multiple abiotic stressors on the growth and social behaviour of an estuarine fish, Australian Bass (Macquaria novemaculeata). Environ Biol Fish 99:95–104

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pankhurst N, Sharples D (1992) Effects of capture and confinement on plasma cortisol concentrations in the snapper, Pagrus auratus. Mar Freshw Res 43:345–355

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Payton ME, Greenstone MH, Schenker N (2003) Overlapping confidence intervals or standard error intervals: what do they mean in terms of statistical significance? J Insect Sci 3:34–34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pitman DL, Ottenweller JE, Natelson BH (1990) Effect of stressor intensity on habituation and sensitization of glucocorticoid responses in rats. Behav Neurosci 104:28–36

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Polverino G, Ruberto T, Staaks G, Mehner T (2016) Tank size alters mean behaviours and individual rank orders in personality traits of fish depending on their life stage. Anim Behav 115:127–135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raoult V, Brown C, Zuberi A, Williamson JE (2012) Blood cortisol concentrations predict boldness in juvenile mulloway (Argyosomus japonicus). J Ethol 30:225–232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raoult V, Trompf L, Williamson JE, Brown C (2017) Stress profile influences learning approach in a marine fish. PeerJ 5:e3445

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Réale D, Reader SM, Sol D, McDougall PT, Dingemanse NJ (2007) Integrating animal temperament within ecology and evolution. Biol Rev 82:291–318

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Řežucha R, Reichard M (2016) The association between personality traits, morphological traits and alternative mating behaviour in male Endler’s guppies, Poecilia wingei. Ethology 122:456–467

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roche DG, Careau V, Binning SA (2016) Demystifying animal ‘personality’ (or not): why individual variation matters to experimental biologists. J Exp Biol 219:3832–3843

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schuster AC, Carl T, Foerster K (2017) Repeatability and consistency of individual behaviour in juvenile and adult Eurasian harvest mice. Sci Nat 104:10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stoffel MA, Nakagawa S, Schielzeth H (2017) rptR: repeatability estimation and variance decomposition by generalized linear mixed-effects models. Methods Ecol Evol 8:1639–1644

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swaney WT, Cabrera-Álvarez MJ, Reader SM (2015) Behavioural responses of feral and domestic guppies (Poecilia reticulata) to predators and their cues. Behav Process 118:42–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trompf L, Brown C (2014) Personality affects learning and trade-offs between private and social information in guppies, Poecilia reticulata. Anim Behav 88:99–106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vallon M, Grom C, Kalb N, Sprenger D, Anthes N, Lindström K, Heubel KU (2016) You eat what you are: personality-dependent filial cannibalism in a fish with paternal care. Ecol Evol 6:1340–1352

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank members of ‘The Fish Lab’ at Macquarie University for assistance with fish feeding, Dr. Andrew Allen for his assistance on our statistical analysis and anonymous reviewers for valuable feedback on the manuscript, Belinda Showler for assistance with analysis and Zac Warham for his work in creating the custom analysis program. This research was funded by the Department of Biological Sciences at Macquarie University.

Funding

This research was funded by the Department of Biological Sciences at Macquarie University.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia

    Samuel J. O’Neill, Jane E. Williamson, Louise Tosetto & Culum Brown

Authors
  1. Samuel J. O’Neill
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jane E. Williamson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Louise Tosetto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Culum Brown
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Louise Tosetto.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

No animals died during the experiments. All procedures performed in studies involving animals were approved by, and in accordance with the guidelines outlined by the Macquarie University Animal Ethics committee (Approval No. ARA 2013/024).

Additional information

Communicated by A. Pilastro

Electronic supplementary material

ESM 1

(PDF 124 KB)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

O’Neill, S.J., Williamson, J.E., Tosetto, L. et al. Effects of acclimatisation on behavioural repeatability in two behaviour assays of the guppy Poecilia reticulata. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 72, 166 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-018-2582-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-018-2582-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation