Sex differences in the predictability of risk-taking behavior

Author:

Brand Jack A1ORCID,Henry Jason2,Melo Gabriela C1,Wlodkowic Donald2,Wong Bob B M1ORCID,Martin Jake M13

Affiliation:

1. School of Biological Sciences, Monash University , Melbourne, Victoria 3800 , Australia

2. School of Science, RMIT University , Melbourne, Victoria 3083 , Australia

3. Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences , Umeå SE-901 83 , Sweden

Abstract

Abstract Recent research has found that individuals often vary in how consistently they express their behavior over time (i.e., behavioral predictability) and suggested that these individual differences may be heritable. However, little is known about the intrinsic factors that drive variation in the predictability of behavior. Indeed, whether variation in behavioral predictability is sex-specific is not clear. This is important, as behavioral predictability has been associated with vulnerability to predation, suggesting that the predictability of behavioral traits may have key fitness implications. We investigated whether male and female eastern mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) differed in the predictability of their risk-taking behavior. Specifically, over a total of 954 behavioral trials, we repeatedly measured risk-taking behavior with three commonly used assays—refuge-use, thigmotaxis, and foraging latency. We predicted that there would be consistent sex differences in both mean-level risk-taking behavior and behavioral predictability across the assays. We found that risk-taking behavior was repeatable within each assay, and that some individuals were consistently bolder than others across all three assays. There were also consistent sex differences in mean-level risk-taking behavior, with males being bolder across all three assays compared to females. In contrast, both the magnitude and direction of sex differences in behavioral predictability were assay-specific. Taken together, these results highlight that behavioral predictability may be independent from underlying mean-level behavioral traits and suggest that males and females may differentially adjust the consistency of their risk-taking behavior in response to subtle changes in environmental conditions.

Funder

Australasian Society for the Study of Animal Behavior

Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment

ogical Society of Australia

Australian Research Council

Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarships

Publisher

Oxford University Press (OUP)

Subject

Animal Science and Zoology,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

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