Dataset for: Sensory environment affects Icelandic threespine stickleback's anti-predator escape behaviour

Human-induced changes in climate and habitats push populations to adapt to
novel environments, including new sensory conditions, such as reduced
visibility. We studied how colonizing newly formed glacial lakes with
turbidity-induced low visibility affects anti-predator behaviour in
Icelandic threespine sticklebacks. We tested nearly 400 fish from 15
populations and four habitat types varying in visibility and colonization
history in their reaction to two predator cues (mechano-visual versus
olfactory) in high versus low visibility light treatments. Fish reacted
differently to the cues and were affected by lighting environment,
confirming that cue modality and light levels are important for predator
detection and evasion. Spring-fed fish, especially from the highlands
(likely more diverged from marine fish than lowland fish) reacted fastest
to mechano-visual cues and were generally most active. Highland glacial
fish showed strong responses to olfactory cues and, counter to predictions
from the flexible stem hypothesis, the greatest plasticity in response to
light levels. This study, leveraging natural, repeated invasions of novel
sensory habitats, 1) illustrates rapid changes in antipredator behaviour
that follow due to adaptation, early life experience, or both, and 2)
suggests an additional role for behavioural plasticity enabling population
persistence in the face of frequent changes in environmental conditions.