The geography of behaviour: an evolutionary perspective [Review]
Susan A. Foster
Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 1999, 14:5:190-195
Box 3. Learning in the development of population differences in anti-predator behaviour


Huntingford and her colleagues have demonstrated pronounced ecotypic differences in antipredator behaviour across 13 freshwater populations of the threespine stickleback fish (Gasterosteus aculeatus) in the UK (Ref. 25). In areas where predation risk is high, stickleback are less bold and more likely to inspect predators than those in areas where predation risk is lower – a difference that persists in laboratory-reared fish that are raised by their fathers.

When threespine stickleback from a high-risk population (River Endrick) and a low risk one (Inverleith Pond) were raised with their fathers (unfilled circles) or as orphans (filled circles), normally reared eight-week old fish from the high-risk population were more likely to 'freeze' in response to the first approach of the model predator than were fish in the other three categories. Compared with other responses to attack that have been observed, such as jumping or a failure to respond, freezing is a behaviour indicative of higher perceived risk. In addition, normally reared fish from the high-risk site were more likely to escape by moving to the side than more directly towards or away from the model. They also exhibited longer periods of behavioural suppression following the attack. These patterns of response were retained at four months of age. Attempts to escape retrieval by the father (to return them to the nest) appear to hone the antipredator responses of fry from the high-risk but not the low-risk site. Differences in learning between the populations are probably involved, although more rapid retrieval efforts by males from the high-risk site confound interpretation. Figure redrawn, with permission, from Ref. 25.