Does parental angling selection affect the behavior or metabolism of brown trout parr?

• Published in: Ecology and evolution Vol. 11; no. 6; pp. 2630 - 2644
• Main Authors: Prokkola, Jenni M., Alioravainen, Nico, Mehtätalo, Lauri, Hyvärinen, Pekka, Lemopoulos, Alexandre, Metso, Sara, Vainikka, Anssi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01-03-2021; John Wiley and Sons Inc; Wiley
• Subjects: animal personality; Behavior; Concrete; Divergence; Domestication; Experiments; Exploratory behavior; Fish; Fish hatcheries; Fisheries; Fishing; Fishing equipment; Metabolic rate; Metabolism; Offspring; Original Research; Personality; Population; Population studies; Predation; respirometry; Risk taking; Salmo trutta; Selectivity; Trout; Finland; animal personality; Salmo trutta; respirometry; fishing
• ISSN: 2045-7758; 2045-7758
• DOI: 10.1002/ece3.7220

The behavior of organisms can be subject to human‐induced selection such as that arising from fishing. Angling is expected to induce mortality on fish with bold and explorative behavior, which are behaviors commonly linked to a high standard metabolic rate. We studied the transgenerational response of brown trout (Salmo trutta) to angling‐induced selection by examining the behavior and metabolism of 1‐year‐old parr between parents that were or were not captured by experimental fly fishing. We performed the angling selection experiment on both a wild and a captive population, and compared the offspring for standard metabolic rate and behavior under predation risk in common garden conditions. Angling had population‐specific effects on risk taking and exploration tendency, but no effects on standard metabolic rate. Our study adds to the evidence that angling can induce transgenerational responses on fish personality. However, understanding the mechanisms of divergent responses between the populations requires further study on the selectivity of angling in various conditions.
Angling‐induced divergent responses on a wild and a hatchery population of brown trout, making hatchery population juveniles from low‐vulnerability parents more explorative than offspring from high‐vulnerability parents, but having no effect on juveniles from the wild population. Our results imply that angling selection may lead to accumulating behavioral changes across generations. Whether this will manifest as increased shyness, as has been predicted, can depend on the background of the population or the ecological conditions during angling.