Investigating the role of individual variation in the responses of invasive fish to aversive stimuli

Session: 02b. - Status and Management of Invasive Carps in the Great Lakes

Paul Bzonek, University of Toronto Scarborough, [email protected]
Nicholas Mandrak, Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, [email protected]

Abstract

Acoustic and strobe-light behavioural barriers have been identified as potential tools to limit the spread of invasive carps in the Great Lakes. Urgent research is needed to understand how these stimuli impact behaviour, and to evaluate their potential as non-physical barriers. Individuals within a population may vary in the strength of their avoidance response to acoustic and stroboscopic stimuli. This would make behavioural barriers vulnerable to individuals at the extreme bold-exploratory-neophilic tails of behavioural trait distributions. To test individual variation, Common Carp were placed in a choice arena and motivated to move into a novel chamber by increasing the carbon dioxide levels in the holding chamber. Common Carp were willing to tolerate higher carbon-dioxide concentrations before moving when the novel chamber produced acoustic and stroboscopic stimuli (n=55, X²=14, p<0.01). Individuals that repeated the trial three times expressed individual variation in the carbon-dioxide concentrations required to produce shuttling (n=21, R=0.40, CI=[0.12 – 0.66]). This means that some fish required higher carbon-dioxide concentrations than others to force them to enter the novel chamber with acoustic and stroboscopic stimuli. Future studies will investigate the role of individual variation of Common Carp responses to acoustic and strobe-light stimuli in realistic field environments.

1. Keyword
carp

2. Keyword
biological invasions

3. Keyword
fish management

4. Additional Keyword
behaviour