TY - JOUR
T1 - Parental care in response to natural variation in nest predation pressure in six sunfish (Centrarchidae
T2 - Teleostei) species
AU - Cooke, S. J.
AU - Weatherhead, Patrick J
AU - Wahl, David H
AU - Philipp, D. P.
PY - 2008/12/1
Y1 - 2008/12/1
N2 - Parental care is an important, energetically costly component of the life history of many fishes. Despite this importance, little is known about how different species of fish vary parental care in response to natural nest predator burdens. In this study, underwater videography was used to quantify parental care activity of six species of syntopic nesting male centrarchid fishes in Lake Opinicon, Ontario, in response to natural predators. This approach was used to test the hypothesis that as offspring develop from eggs to wrigglers, parental care activity should decrease or remain static for fish guarding nests with low predator burden and increase for those with high predator burden, reflecting different external risks. Principal components analysis (PCA) was used to derive common aeration and nest defence variables. Aeration and predator defence activity of the fish varied extensively among species. Parental care behaviours indicative of defence and vigilance (e.g., turning, departures, time away from nest, displays) tended to be highest for species that had the most predation attempts, although this was not entirely consistent. There was also a positive relationship between the defence PCA metric and attempted predation. Defence did not vary with stage of offspring development, although interactions between defence and developmental stage were noted for several species. A trade-off between aeration and defence was not observed. In fact, species that provide high levels of aeration also simultaneously provide high levels of defence. Stage-specific patterns of defence in this study were less apparent than those documented by studies using responses to staged predator intrusions making it unclear as to the extent that fish were responding to the level of the risk to offspring than to the value of the brood. Therefore, combined use of observational and experimental assessments of parental care investment may be most appropriate for refining current theoretical paradigms.
AB - Parental care is an important, energetically costly component of the life history of many fishes. Despite this importance, little is known about how different species of fish vary parental care in response to natural nest predator burdens. In this study, underwater videography was used to quantify parental care activity of six species of syntopic nesting male centrarchid fishes in Lake Opinicon, Ontario, in response to natural predators. This approach was used to test the hypothesis that as offspring develop from eggs to wrigglers, parental care activity should decrease or remain static for fish guarding nests with low predator burden and increase for those with high predator burden, reflecting different external risks. Principal components analysis (PCA) was used to derive common aeration and nest defence variables. Aeration and predator defence activity of the fish varied extensively among species. Parental care behaviours indicative of defence and vigilance (e.g., turning, departures, time away from nest, displays) tended to be highest for species that had the most predation attempts, although this was not entirely consistent. There was also a positive relationship between the defence PCA metric and attempted predation. Defence did not vary with stage of offspring development, although interactions between defence and developmental stage were noted for several species. A trade-off between aeration and defence was not observed. In fact, species that provide high levels of aeration also simultaneously provide high levels of defence. Stage-specific patterns of defence in this study were less apparent than those documented by studies using responses to staged predator intrusions making it unclear as to the extent that fish were responding to the level of the risk to offspring than to the value of the brood. Therefore, combined use of observational and experimental assessments of parental care investment may be most appropriate for refining current theoretical paradigms.
KW - Aeration
KW - Parental care
KW - Predation
KW - Sunfish
KW - Videography
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=55949110535&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=55949110535&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/j.1600-0633.2008.00314.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1600-0633.2008.00314.x
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:55949110535
VL - 17
SP - 628
EP - 638
JO - Ecology of Freshwater Fish
JF - Ecology of Freshwater Fish
SN - 0906-6691
IS - 4
ER -