Browsing by Author "Oliveira, Catarina C. V."
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- Are coping styles consistent in the teleost fish Sparus aurata through sexual maturation and sex reversal?Publication . Castanheira, Maria Filipa; Martinez Paramo, S.; Figueiredo, F.; Cerqueira, Marco; Millot, Sandie; Oliveira, Catarina C. V.; Martins, Catarina I. M.; Conceicao, Luis E. C.Individual differences in behaviour and physiological responses to stress are associated with evolutionary adaptive variation and thus raw material for evolution. In farmed animals, the interest in consistent trait associations, i.e. coping styles, has increased dramatically over the last years. However, one of limitations of the available knowledge, regarding the temporal consistency, is that it refers always to short-term consistency (usually few weeks). The present study used an escape response during a net restraining test, previously shown to be an indicative of coping styles in seabream, to investigate long-term consistency of coping styles both over time and during different life history stages. Results showed both short-term (14 days) consistency and long-term (8 months) consistency of escape response. However, we did not found consistency in the same behaviour after sexual maturation when the restraining test was repeated 16, 22 and 23 months after the first test was performed. In conclusion, this study showed consistent behaviour traits in seabream when juveniles, and a loss of this behavioural traits when adults. Therefore, these results underline that adding a life story approach to data interpretation as an essential step forward towards coping styles foreground. Furthermore, a fine-tuning of aquaculture rearing strategies to adapt to different coping strategies may need to be adjusted differently at early stages of development and adults to improve the welfare of farmed fish.
- Are personality traits consistent in fish? The influence of social contextPublication . Castanheira, Maria Filipa; Cerqueira, Marco; Millot, Sandie; Gonçalves, Rui A.; Oliveira, Catarina C. V.; Conceição, Luis E. C.; Martins, Catarina I. M.Individual differences in behavioural and physiological responses to challenges are progressively accepted as adaptive variation and reveal a strong degree of evolutionary conservation throughout the vertebrate taxa. Previous studies in gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) suggested that individual differences in behaviour reflect distinct coping styles or personality, contrasting consistent traits associations. One of the traits that have been shown to be consistent over time and across context is the escape response under a restraining test. Using this trait as a proxy of personality in seabream the influence of social context in the consistency of escape behaviour was investigated. Individually tagged juvenile seabream (n = 360; 70.18 +/- 11.44 g; mean +/- SD) were subjected to a restraining test that consisted of keeping each fish in an emerged net for one minute. Behaviours measured in the net (latency to escape; number of escape attempts and total time spent on escaping) were collapsed into first principal component scores using Principal Components Analysis (PCA). Using the PCA scores the individuals were distributed into homogeneous groups (n = 30 each group) of proactive, reactive and intermediate. Control groups consisted of mixed groups with 1/3 of each coping style. After one month the same individuals were exposed to the same test (restraining test) to assess consistency of behavioural responses. Results indicate that homogenous groups of proactive (p = 0.086) and reactive (p = 0.159) individuals did not exhibit consistent behavioural responses as opposed to the intermediate (p = 0.028) and control groups (p < 0.001). This study thus confirms that the social context in which fish are kept significantly influence personality traits. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.