Presentation Details
Behavioral Syndromes in Diverging Anadromous and Freshwater Stickleback Fish Populations  

Kylei Mittler, Jackson Uhrig, Lauren Zola, Willow Ebel-Infante, Shane Kennedy, Jiya Pandit, Miles Pedowitz, Matthew Wund, Marina Morandini.

The College of New Jersey, Ewing, New Jersey, USA

Abstract


Behavioral syndromes—suites of correlated behaviors such as boldness, activity, and exploration—can arise when selection favors particular trait combinations. In the threespine stickleback fish (Gasterosteus aculeatus), correlations between boldness and aggression are related to predation environment, suggesting that ecological context shapes behavioral integration. This study focuses on populations inhabiting a recently-formed lake in Alaska, where anadromous individuals migrating from the marine environment breed in sympatry with resident freshwater fish likely derived from recent colonists. This system provides a unique opportunity to examine behavioral divergence during the early stages of ecological differentiation. We aim to determine if freshwater and anadromous individuals differ in behavioral syndromes. We predict that freshwater fish will be shyer, less active, and less exploratory, whereas anadromous individuals will exhibit higher boldness and exploratory behavior. These findings will help determine whether divergence in behavioral syndromes contributes to differences in migratory tendency, which may facilitate adaptive divergence despite their coexistence.

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