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11	An ecological study of the migration, food composition and relative abundance of three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) in a shallow area in Kalmar Sound. Söderling, Peter January 2013 (has links) The populations of three–spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) in the Baltic Sea have increased tenfold over the last decade. A large increase in abundance can alter the offshore and coastal food webs. Despite of these facts, there are large gaps in the knowledge about the stickleback ecology in the Baltic and the possible effect they might have on their environment. Earlier investigations state that stickleback mainly occupy the deeper areas offshore, and only migrate to the shallow areas during May–July to spawn. Observations by recreational fishermen indicate that this may be incorrect, and that some adult sticklebacks are present in the shallow areas even during the winter. One aim of this study was to investigate the timing of stickleback migration to a shallow coastal area in Kalmar Sound. The study also aimed to examine the relative abundance in two adjacent shallow areas in the archipelago south of Kalmar, where one of the areas is a pike spawning ground. A one month long test fishing with fyke nets was started on the first day after ice break. Results show that the sticklebacks are present in the bays immediately after the ice break, and that high abundances coincide with the pike spawning period. Stomach analyses showed that sticklebacks consumed a large proportion of crustaceans, but also fish eggs were found. These results shed new light on the management actions for many of the coastal spring spawning fish species that have shown decreasing abundances during the last decades. / Bestånden av storspigg (Gasterosteus aculeatus) i Östersjön har ökat markant, data visar på en tiofaldig ökning under det senaste decenniet. Ökningen kan medföra att bl.a. näringsväven, till havs och längs kusterna förändras. Trots vetskapen om detta finns det kunskapsluckor kring spiggens ekologi och dess möjliga påverkan på sin omgivning. Litteratur säger att spiggen till största del bara befinner sig inne längs kusterna under maj-juli. Observationer från sportfiskare tyder på att detta inte stämmer, och att vuxen storspigg befinner sig inne längs kusten och i skärgårdsvikar året om. Ett syfte med studien var att undersöka när spiggen kom in till de grunda vikarna i Kalmarsund. Studien jämförde även spiggtätheterna mellan två närliggande områden där den största skillnaden var födan. Ett månadslångt provfiske inleddes den första isfria dagen i två skyddade vikar söder om Kalmar, där en av lokalerna var en dokumenterad leklokal för gäddor. Resultaten visade att spiggen fanns i vikarna direkt efter islossningen, och vid fisket sammanföll de största spiggfångsterna med gäddleken. Maganalyser visade att en stor andel av födan bestod av olika kräftdjur, men även romkorn hittades. Resultaten tyder på andra förutsättningar för många av de hårt ansatta vårlekande fiskarterna än vad som tidigare är dokumenterat. Three-spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus migration abundance population decline increase food prey predate pike perch roach spring spawn recruitment shallow Kalmar Baltic Storspigg spigg vandring förekomst population populationsökning populationsminskning föda byte predera predator gädda abborre mört vår vårlekande föryngring lek grunt Kalmar Kalmarsund Östersjön
12	Animal personality and the social context : the role of boldness and sociability variation in schooling fish Jolles, Jolle Wolter January 2016 (has links) Throughout the animal kingdom, individuals often differ consistently from one another in how they cope with their environment. In particular, consistent behavioural variation, known as animal personality, is a substantial driver of a range of important ecological and evolutionary processes. As most animal species are social for at least part of their lives and group living is common, a crucial link between personality and the social context may be expected. In this thesis I systematically investigate this link, using three-spined stickleback fish (Gasterosteus aculeatus) as my model system. I begin by showing that fish vary consistently in their boldness and sociability, with only boldness being positively linked to food intake for fish at rest. This finding provides support for evolutionary theory that links personality variation to life-history strategies, and lays the basis for work related to the social context. I continue by investigating how the social context may modulate personality variation and show that short contact with a social group may have carry-over effects and obfuscate personality expression when individuals are alone. Next, I observed fish in different pairs over time and found that social experience from both the current as well as previous social contexts are integrated in the risk-taking and leadership decisions of individuals but also depends on their boldness type. This result provides support for the importance of social feedback in the expression of personality differences. I go on to demonstrate that, in a pair, bolder fish have lower social attraction, with positive effects on individual’s leadership but negative effects on social coordination. Finally, by detailed tracking of the collective movements and group foraging of free-swimming shoals, I reveal boldness and sociability have complementary driving effects of on social structure, collective behaviour, and group functioning. Furthermore, I show that in turn the group composition determines the performance of individual personality types, providing a potential adaptive explanation for the maintenance of personality variation. Taken together, these studies provide an integrated account of animal personality and the social context and highlight the presence of a feedback loop between them, with personality variation being a key driver of collective behaviour and group functioning but also strongly affected and potentially maintained by it. 597

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An ecological study of the migration, food composition and relative abundance of three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) in a shallow area in Kalmar Sound.

Animal personality and the social context : the role of boldness and sociability variation in schooling fish