Abstract
Dispersal is critical to population persistence, colonization and connectivity which are all critical components of invasive success. While individual propensity to disperse varies within populations, the underlying mechanisms promoting individual dispersal remain unclear. Collectively, dispersal is influenced by the environment and individual phenotype. Here we investigated individual dispersal propensity in the Trinidadian guppy, Poecilia reticulata, and related individual variation in dispersal behaviour to phenotype and social/environmental conditions. Namely, we addressed the effect of sex ratio (social/environmental factor) on the tendency for individuals to disperse across physical barriers via jumping behaviour. Jumping is vital for the dispersal of many aquatic species and has been anecdotally linked to the guppy's global invasive success. We found similar jumping behaviour for males and females, with population sex ratio not influencing the magnitude of male or female dispersal. Further, we found consistent among-individual variation in jumping probability; individual differences explained 17.46% and 7.92% of total variation in jumping probability for males and females, respectively. These results strongly indicate that sex ratio does not influence jumping behaviour, suggesting that species invasions are mediated by a nonrandom subset of individuals with greater dispersal tendencies. Overall, this study stresses the need to move the focus of invasion biology from the species level to incorporate information on individual variation in behaviour.
DOI
10.1016/j.anbehav.2024.03.009
Publication Date
2024-06-01
Publication Title
Animal Behaviour
Volume
212
ISSN
0003-3472
Organisational Unit
School of Biological and Marine Sciences
Recommended Citation
Jessop, A., Barbosa, M., & Morrissey, M. (2024) 'Shifting the focus from species to individuals in invasion biology: individual differences in jumping behaviour', Animal Behaviour, 212. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2024.03.009
