Within‐population variation in an invasive fish’ sociability when associating with conspecifics or heterospecifics

Abstract Behavioural traits are key to promote invasion success because they are easier to adjust to changing environmental conditions than morphological or life history traits. Often, research has overlooked variance in behavioural traits within populations or has assumed it to be mere noise. Howev...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Morelia Camacho‐Cervantes, Alfredo F. Ojanguren
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2024-08-01
Series:Ecology and Evolution
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70118
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850259625318809600
author Morelia Camacho‐Cervantes
Alfredo F. Ojanguren
author_facet Morelia Camacho‐Cervantes
Alfredo F. Ojanguren
author_sort Morelia Camacho‐Cervantes
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Behavioural traits are key to promote invasion success because they are easier to adjust to changing environmental conditions than morphological or life history traits. Often, research has overlooked variance in behavioural traits within populations or has assumed it to be mere noise. However, a recent focus towards individual variation of behaviour of successful invaders has revealed new and more profound insights into the invasion process. Behavioural variation within a population could lead to more successful invasions, as they include individuals with diverse behaviours, which ensures at least some individuals could be able to cope with changing conditions. The aim of this research was to examine if invasive guppies (Poecilia reticulata) present within‐population differences in their sociability (time spent associating with a shoal) when interacting with conspecifics or heterospecifics. Guppies presented significant differences in their individual tendencies to associate with conspecific or heterospecific shoals. There were among‐individual differences in the time spent shoaling with conspecifics versus heterospecifics, where most individuals did not differ in their sociability with conspecifics or heterospecifics, and only 22% of individuals presented a higher tendency to associate with conspecifics. Our results are the first to show individual differences in fish’ tendencies to associate with heterospecifics among individuals of the same population and rearing conditions. Given that associations with heterospecific natives have been found to be as beneficial as associations with conspecifics for invaders, our results contribute to the understanding of mechanisms behind heterospecific sociability between natives and invaders.
format Article
id doaj-art-ca8c8c24f7d84662827044cb7d4170b4
institution OA Journals
issn 2045-7758
language English
publishDate 2024-08-01
publisher Wiley
record_format Article
series Ecology and Evolution
spelling doaj-art-ca8c8c24f7d84662827044cb7d4170b42025-08-20T01:55:49ZengWileyEcology and Evolution2045-77582024-08-01148n/an/a10.1002/ece3.70118Within‐population variation in an invasive fish’ sociability when associating with conspecifics or heterospecificsMorelia Camacho‐Cervantes0Alfredo F. Ojanguren1Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Mexico City MexicoDepartamento de Biología de Organismos y Sistemas Universidad de Oviedo Oviedo Asturias SpainAbstract Behavioural traits are key to promote invasion success because they are easier to adjust to changing environmental conditions than morphological or life history traits. Often, research has overlooked variance in behavioural traits within populations or has assumed it to be mere noise. However, a recent focus towards individual variation of behaviour of successful invaders has revealed new and more profound insights into the invasion process. Behavioural variation within a population could lead to more successful invasions, as they include individuals with diverse behaviours, which ensures at least some individuals could be able to cope with changing conditions. The aim of this research was to examine if invasive guppies (Poecilia reticulata) present within‐population differences in their sociability (time spent associating with a shoal) when interacting with conspecifics or heterospecifics. Guppies presented significant differences in their individual tendencies to associate with conspecific or heterospecific shoals. There were among‐individual differences in the time spent shoaling with conspecifics versus heterospecifics, where most individuals did not differ in their sociability with conspecifics or heterospecifics, and only 22% of individuals presented a higher tendency to associate with conspecifics. Our results are the first to show individual differences in fish’ tendencies to associate with heterospecifics among individuals of the same population and rearing conditions. Given that associations with heterospecific natives have been found to be as beneficial as associations with conspecifics for invaders, our results contribute to the understanding of mechanisms behind heterospecific sociability between natives and invaders.https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70118animal personalitybehavioural syndromesdispersalheterospecific interactionsinvasion success
spellingShingle Morelia Camacho‐Cervantes
Alfredo F. Ojanguren
Within‐population variation in an invasive fish’ sociability when associating with conspecifics or heterospecifics
Ecology and Evolution
animal personality
behavioural syndromes
dispersal
heterospecific interactions
invasion success
title Within‐population variation in an invasive fish’ sociability when associating with conspecifics or heterospecifics
title_full Within‐population variation in an invasive fish’ sociability when associating with conspecifics or heterospecifics
title_fullStr Within‐population variation in an invasive fish’ sociability when associating with conspecifics or heterospecifics
title_full_unstemmed Within‐population variation in an invasive fish’ sociability when associating with conspecifics or heterospecifics
title_short Within‐population variation in an invasive fish’ sociability when associating with conspecifics or heterospecifics
title_sort within population variation in an invasive fish sociability when associating with conspecifics or heterospecifics
topic animal personality
behavioural syndromes
dispersal
heterospecific interactions
invasion success
url https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70118
work_keys_str_mv AT moreliacamachocervantes withinpopulationvariationinaninvasivefishsociabilitywhenassociatingwithconspecificsorheterospecifics
AT alfredofojanguren withinpopulationvariationinaninvasivefishsociabilitywhenassociatingwithconspecificsorheterospecifics