Fishing for Personality
Alexis Fedele
Author
03/04/2016
Added
49
Plays
Description
Fourth Place in the Masters category of the 2016 School of Natural Resources Elevator Speech Contest. Alexis is a master’s candidate seeking a degree in Natural Resource Sciences with a specialization in Applied Ecology.
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- [00:00:00.832]Raise your hand if you've ever caught a fish.
- [00:00:03.195]Awesome.
- [00:00:03.937]So most of you know the exciting feeling of
- [00:00:05.481]finally reeling in a catch.
- [00:00:06.641]What do you think about?
- [00:00:07.871]If you're a skilled angler,
- [00:00:09.288]you're probably thinking about the fight.
- [00:00:11.116]If you're like me,
- [00:00:12.051]you're probably just excited that there's something
- [00:00:13.737]other than bait at the end of your line.
- [00:00:15.922]But do you ever contemplate
- [00:00:17.187]what drove that fish to take the bait?
- [00:00:18.835]Was it hungry?
- [00:00:19.973]Was it naive?
- [00:00:20.948]What about its personality?
- [00:00:22.597]Laugh if you want, but fish have personalities.
- [00:00:25.197]Might not be like yours, or mine,
- [00:00:27.287]but they exhibit repeatable behaviors of cost context,
- [00:00:29.970]and these behaviors are best measured
- [00:00:34.126]on a Boldness Continuum.
- [00:00:35.357]So some fish are more bold, active, and aggressive,
- [00:00:38.143]and other of them were shy, inactive, and timid.
- [00:00:41.905]So who cares?
- [00:00:43.507]Why does it matter if fish have personalities?
- [00:00:45.573]Well there's a lot of reasons, but I'm gonna focus on a few.
- [00:00:48.243]First, bold fish are more likely to be caught by anglers,
- [00:00:51.749]and this is important, because if we're selecting for
- [00:00:54.327]a specific personality by removing bold fish,
- [00:00:56.765]more often than shy fish,
- [00:00:58.251]then we might ultimately end up
- [00:00:59.593]with populations full of shy fish.
- [00:01:01.520]This can have a lot of implications
- [00:01:03.099]for population dynamics, like reproduction.
- [00:01:06.306]Additionally, it's thought that bold individuals
- [00:01:08.991]might be better dispersers.
- [00:01:10.338]So in light of things like climate change,
- [00:01:12.056]we may be harming a population by removing individuals
- [00:01:15.051]that are more likely to colonize elsewhere.
- [00:01:19.264]So, if those aren't enough reasons
- [00:01:23.493]to care about whether or not a fish is bold or shy,
- [00:01:26.535]what if I told you that an individual's personality
- [00:01:28.857]may affect the outcome of your next fishing trip?
- [00:01:31.156]Research shows that
- [00:01:33.292]catch-and-release-oriented sportfish populations
- [00:01:35.602]may alter their behavior to avoid future capture.
- [00:01:38.140]And if this is true, if fish are altering their behavior
- [00:01:41.382]to avoid the negative stimulus
- [00:01:42.795]of being caught and released, then perhaps,
- [00:01:46.487]this has something to do with their personality.
- [00:01:48.553]If a bold fish is more likely to get caught,
- [00:01:50.991]is it also more likely to get repeatedly caught?
- [00:01:53.197]What about shy fish?
- [00:01:54.497]These are the questions that my Master's research
- [00:01:56.586]is hoping to shed some light on.
- [00:01:58.025]To do this, we set up a series of experiments in the lab,
- [00:02:01.067]with individual rock bass,
- [00:02:02.901]and they go through behavioral tests
- [00:02:04.638]to determine their individual personalities.
- [00:02:06.658]Then they are fished over seven consecutive days,
- [00:02:09.746]to see if they alter their behavior
- [00:02:11.302]to avoid the negative stimulus of being caught.
- [00:02:16.250]We hope to see that,
- [00:02:17.963]we're using different treatments,
- [00:02:19.513]so in some cases we have waxworms,
- [00:02:21.649]and then in some cases we have a lure with a waxworm,
- [00:02:23.483]to attempt to tease out
- [00:02:24.528]what complicates, and what facilitates learning.
- [00:02:27.988]Additionally, we're looking at hunger
- [00:02:29.838]to see its overall role in the process.
- [00:02:32.020]Hopefully at the outcome of my research,
- [00:02:33.808]we'll have a better idea of how these individuals respond
- [00:02:37.314]to the negative stimulus of being caught and released,
- [00:02:39.473]whether or not that has anything to do
- [00:02:41.656]with their individual personalities.
- [00:02:43.235]And maybe, the next time you go fishing,
- [00:02:45.684]you'll be a little bit more curious
- [00:02:47.030]about what drove the fish
- [00:02:48.074]on the end of your line to take the bait.
- [00:02:49.676]Thank you.
- [00:02:50.628](audience applause)
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