Behavioral syndrome over the boundaries of life--carryovers from larvae to adult damselfly

Activity is an important behavioral trait that mediates a trade-off between obtaining food for growth and avoiding predation. Active individuals usually experience a higher encounter rate with food items and suffer higher predation pressure than less active individuals. I investigated how activity of the damselfly Lestes congener is affected by larval state and predator presence and if larval behavioral type (BT) can be used to predict larval boldness, foraging success, and adult BT. Activity level of individual larvae was studied without predator at 2 different physiological states (hungry and fed) and in 2 predator treatments: familiar predator cues and unfamiliar predator cues. Larvae did not adjust their activity depending on state or when subjected to unfamiliar predator cues, but a general reduction in activity was seen in the familiar predator treatment. Hence, active individuals remained active compared with their conspecifics, independent of state or predator treatment. Active individuals were also bolder and more efficient foragers than their less active conspecifics. Furthermore, both adult activity and boldness were correlated with larval BT. The results illustrate that BT of a larvae is carried over many different situations keeping active larvae active even in maladaptive situations, demonstrating how a behavioral syndrome may constrain behavioral plasticity. Furthermore, results showed that behavioral syndromes can carry over from larvae through metamorphosis and dictate the BT of the adult. Copyright 2009, Oxford University Press.