Abstract Juvenile largemouth bass have distinct behavioral types that separate along the exploring behavioral axis and differ in diet. We used a mesocosm experiment to test the hypothesis that groups composed of mixed behavioral types would have more efficient use of prey resources and reduced competition between individuals than experimental populations composed of similar behavioral types. Fish growth, diets, and prey composition were quantified over a 4-week period in mesocosms containing prey communities that were mixtures of zooplankton from the pond water used to fill them and natural colonization by terrestrial insects. Mesocosms contained juvenile largemouth bass of either all fast exploratory-type, all slow exploratory-type, or a 50/50 mix of the two behavioral types. Treatments with similar behavioral types had lower growth than treatments with mixed behavioral types. While evidence showed that slow explorers in homogeneous groups consumed fewer macroinvertebrates outside of refuge habitat, the same was not true of fast explorers. Results suggest that populations composed of different compositions of behavioral types may also differ in their food web interactions. Potential alternative explanations for the difference in growth between mixed versus homogeneous communities include higher activity, increased antagonistic interactions and the role of social cues that might signal when it is safe to begin foraging after exposure to a predator. The differences in growth suggest that individual performance can be higher in populations with a balanced mixture of behavioral types compared to more homogenous populations and adds to the growing knowledge that individual behavioral traits can have emergent population-level effects.

中文翻译：

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行为类型构成对幼年捕食者资源利用和生长的作用

摘要 大口黑鲈幼鱼具有不同的行为类型，它们沿着探索行为轴分开，并且在饮食上有所不同。我们使用中宇宙实验来检验由混合行为类型组成的群体比由相似行为类型组成的实验群体更有效地利用猎物资源并减少个体之间的竞争的假设。在包含猎物群落的中宇宙中，鱼类生长、饮食和猎物组成在 4 周内进行了量化，这些猎物群落是来自用于填充它们的池塘水中的浮游动物和陆生昆虫的自然定殖的混合物。中宇宙包含所有快速探索型、所有慢速探索型或两种行为类型的 50/50 混合的少年大嘴鲈鱼。具有相似行为类型的治疗比具有混合行为类型的治疗具有更低的增长。虽然有证据表明，同种群体中的慢速探险家在避难所栖息地之外消耗的大型无脊椎动物较少，但快速探险家的情况并非如此。结果表明，由不同行为类型组成的人群在他们的食物网相互作用方面也可能不同。混合群落与同质群落之间生长差异的潜在替代解释包括更高的活动、增加的对抗性相互作用以及社会线索的作用，这些线索可能表明在暴露于捕食者后何时开始觅食是安全的。