Teleost Fish Providing Parental Care: Individual and Intergenerational
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Teleost fish providing parental care: individual and intergenerational costs and consequences of nest predation pressure By Marie-Ange Gravel B.Sc., University of Ottawa, 2006 A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Biology Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario ©2011, Marie-Ange Gravel Dedication I would like to dedicate this thesis to my family, especially to my parents, siblings and husband for always supporting me and giving me the best work-life balance anyone could hope for. ii Abstract Predation pressure is an important ecological variable which can influence the morphology, behaviour, physiology and survival of prey species. A particular focus has been given to individuals engaged in reproduction because traits or behaviours associated with reproduction often make them more prone to predation. For many taxa, reproduction also involves specialized parental care behaviours. Under these circumstances, individuals engaged in parental care may not be directly threatened by predators, but guard vulnerable offspring. However, parental care often imposes physiological and energetic costs on parents which can influence their survival. In this thesis, I tested whether variation in nest predation pressure had consequences for parents, as well as offspring. I used a teleost fish that provides male-only parental care as a model (smallmouth bass, Micropterus dolomieu). I used six populations which differed in predation pressure to test a number of hypotheses. First, I tested whether variation in nest predation pressure influenced parental care behaviour. I found that males from populations with increased nest predation pressure were more often engaged in antipredator behaviours relative to males from populations with lower predation pressure. Second, I tested whether variation in nest predation pressure influenced the cost of providing care. Traditional energetic approaches (i.e., lipid analysis) showed that energy status declined during parental care for all populations but individuals from populations with increased predation pressure did not lose relatively more energy stores. An in-situ approach (i.e., electromyogram telemetry) showed that males from the populations at the opposite extremes of predation pressure differed in overall swimming activity. Third, I tested whether variation in predation pressure influenced indicators of performance in iii parental males. I found that males from all six populations had similar indicators of swimming performance, a proxy for parental care. Finally, I tested whether nest predation pressure influenced the antipredator behaviour of offspring. Here, I found that offspring from all populations were similarly able to avoid an introduced nest predator. From a physiological perspective, offspring from the site of highest predation pressure had lower active metabolic rates and recovered more quickly from a simulated predator attack compared to offspring from the population with the lowest predation pressure. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first like to thank my supervisor, Steven Cooke, for his support and generosity over the years. This thesis would not have been possible without the help and support of my Cooke Lab colleagues and field assistants. For their physical and intellectual work, I would like to thank: Michelle Caputo, Laura Chomyshyn, Alison Colotelo, Jake Davis, Cody Dey, Mike Donaldson, Andrew Gingerich, Patricia Halinowski, Sean Landsman, Darryl McLeod, Karen Murchie, Vivian Nguyen, Amanda O’Toole, Mike Sipeker, Rana Sunder, Tara Redpath and Claire Yick. I would also like to give a special thanks to Grégory Bulté, Caleb Hasler, Kyle Hanson and Connie O’Connor for being my colleagues, friends and advisors over the years. I would also like to thank the staff at the Queen’s University Biological Station, Frank and Marg Phelan and Floyd Connor for their logistical support and their strong dedication to a wonderful place to do research. I am also thankful to my committee members Dr. Susan Bertram (Carleton University) and Dr. Jean-Michel Weber (University of Ottawa) for their input and suggestions throughout my thesis. Thank you to Dr. Cory Suski and Dr. Patrice Couture for lending me equipment, teaching me how to use new tools and sharing their wisdom. Finally, I would like to acknowledge NSERC and Carleton University for providing scholarships and funding for this research. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication ....................................................................................................................................... ii Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgments........................................................................................................................... v List of tables .................................................................................................................................. vii List of figures ............................................................................................................................... viii List of appendices ........................................................................................................................... x Preface............................................................................................................................................ xi Contributions of co-authors ..................................................................................................... xi General introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Influence of inter-lake variation in natural nest predation pressure on the parental care behaviour of smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) ............................................ 7 Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... 7 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 8 Methods .................................................................................................................................... 12 Study area ............................................................................................................................................ 12 Lake predation pressure ...................................................................................................................... 13 Baseline parental care ......................................................................................................................... 15 Elicited antipredator response ............................................................................................................. 15 Statistical Analysis ............................................................................................................................... 15 Results ....................................................................................................................................... 16 Male size, egg score and egg age ........................................................................................................ 16 Parental care behaviour ...................................................................................................................... 18 Discussion ................................................................................................................................. 18 Tables ........................................................................................................................................ 22 Figures ...................................................................................................................................... 23 Chapter 2: Does nest predation pressure affect the energetic cost of nest guarding in a teleost fish? ................................................................................................................................... 28 Abstract .................................................................................................................................... 28 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 29 Methods .................................................................................................................................... 31 Study site and species .......................................................................................................................... 31 Energy stores ....................................................................................................................................... 32 Electromyogram (EMG) telemetry ...................................................................................................... 34 Statistical analysis ............................................................................................................................... 37 Tables ........................................................................................................................................ 51 Figures .....................................................................................................................................