Risk Predictability in Early Life Shapes Personality of Mosquitofish in Adulthood

Abstract

Animal personality is of great ecological and evolutionary significance and has been documented in many animal taxa. Despite genetic background, personality might be prominently shaped by external environments, and it is significant to explore the environmental factors that influence the ontogeny of animal personality in early life. Here, we reared newborn mosquitofish Gambusia affinis under different treatments of risk predictability (i.e., no risks, unpredictable risks, risks at 5 min after feeding and risks at 2 h after feeding) and measured their two personality traits at sexual maturity. We measured the behavioral repeatability, correlation between behavioral characteristics, and the impact of risk predictability. We found that the fish showed repeatability in exploration in all risk treatments, as well as repeatability in shyness under predictable risks. When growing up in risk treatments, no matter predictable or unpredictable, shyness and exploration showed a negative correlation, suggesting a behavioral syndrome between the two behavioral traits. The fish reared under predictable risks were less explorative than those under unpredictable risks, while there were no differences in shyness among treatments. Besides, smaller fish were bolder and more explorative than larger ones. Our findings imply that risk predictability in early life may play an important role in shaping animal personality and modifying the average behavioral levels.