The role of animal personality in behavioural welfare diagnostics: a case study in Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus)
- 1University of Glasgow
Abstract
Animal personality is the expression of consistent among-individual variation in a behavioural trait across time and context. The application of this theory to behavioural research provides a valuable framework to investigate the among- and within-individual variation in behaviour. The animal personality theory is particularly relevant to understand and diagnostic fish welfare. It can be integrated within the nature-based welfare framework, which emphasizes the expression of species-specific behaviours and the maintenance of consistent behavioural patterns over time. Because behavioural trait such as boldness may be closely linked to other functional phenotypes, such associations reflect the broader concept of animal personality, whereby a behavioural trait can covary with another phenotypic trait to support an adaptive responses to environmental conditions. Although these relationships are both species and context dependent, they are consistently shaped by environmental conditions and environmental complexity tend to promote species specific behaviours and reduce maladaptive traits. Here we examined how structural environmental complexity shapes personality in Arctic charr and their covarying functional phenotypes, specifically growth rate and brain size. We propose that environmental complexity promotes alternative behavioural and functional phenotypes through multivariate phenotypic plasticity. We found that environmental complexity did not influence mean boldness between both treatments, but repeatability of boldness in the complex environment was remarkably consistent over a longer-term period, while estimates collapse after seven days in the plain treatment. Our findings are a clear evidence that environmental complexity foster stable behavioural trait expression and that a plain environment may suppress personality. Our results provide compelling evidence that behavioural structure and dynamics are embedded within patterns of behavioural variance. Although we found no support for behavioural covariation or associations with growth rate and brain size, we suggest that the animal personality framework may offer a valuable approach for diagnosing fish welfare issues through the partitioning of behavioural variance.
Related
- Under pressure: personality, behavioural and physiological responses to handling in captive Addax nasomaculatus antelopes
- Validation of behavioural tests for personality assessment in tie-stall dairy cows
- Thiamine availability and uptake in lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) eggs and embryos: contrasting natural and artificial environments
- Out of the cradle: expansion from the natal ecosystem erodes morphological specificity in endemic Kamchatkan charrs (genus Salvelinus)
- INSTAR: reporting items for invertebrate welfare in research
BibTeX
@misc{philip2026role,
title = {{The role of animal personality in behavioural welfare diagnostics: a case study in Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus)}},
author = {J. Philip and G. Laduree and A. Prat and M. Dellinger and S. Lobligeois and D. Benhaim},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.64898/2026.08.25.747029},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.25.747029v2},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - The role of animal personality in behavioural welfare diagnostics: a case study in Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus)
AU - J. Philip
AU - G. Laduree
AU - A. Prat
AU - M. Dellinger
AU - S. Lobligeois
AU - D. Benhaim
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/25
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.08.25.747029
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.25.747029v2
AB - Animal personality is the expression of consistent among-individual variation in a behavioural trait across time and context. The application of this theory to behavioural research provides a valuable framework to investigate the among- and within-individual variation in behaviour. The animal personality theory is particularly relevant to understand and diagnostic fish welfare. It can be integrated within the nature-based welfare framework, which emphasizes the expression of species-specific behaviours and the maintenance of consistent behavioural patterns over time. Because behavioural trait such as boldness may be closely linked to other functional phenotypes, such associations reflect the broader concept of animal personality, whereby a behavioural trait can covary with another phenotypic trait to support an adaptive responses to environmental conditions. Although these relationships are both species and context dependent, they are consistently shaped by environmental conditions and environmental complexity tend to promote species specific behaviours and reduce maladaptive traits. Here we examined how structural environmental complexity shapes personality in Arctic charr and their covarying functional phenotypes, specifically growth rate and brain size. We propose that environmental complexity promotes alternative behavioural and functional phenotypes through multivariate phenotypic plasticity. We found that environmental complexity did not influence mean boldness between both treatments, but repeatability of boldness in the complex environment was remarkably consistent over a longer-term period, while estimates collapse after seven days in the plain treatment. Our findings are a clear evidence that environmental complexity foster stable behavioural trait expression and that a plain environment may suppress personality. Our results provide compelling evidence that behavioural structure and dynamics are embedded within patterns of behavioural variance. Although we found no support for behavioural covariation or associations with growth rate and brain size, we suggest that the animal personality framework may offer a valuable approach for diagnosing fish welfare issues through the partitioning of behavioural variance.
ER -