Maternal predation risk increases offspring’s exploration but does not affect schooling behavior

The environment that parents experience can influence their reproductive
output and their offspring’s fitness via parental effects. Perceived
predation risk can affect both parent and offspring phenotype, but it
remains unclear to what extent offspring behavioral traits are affected
when the mother is exposed to predation risk. This is particularly unclear
in live-bearing species where maternal effects could occur during
embryogenesis. Here, using a half-sib design to control for paternal
effects, we experimentally exposed females of a live-bearing fish, the
guppy (Poecilia reticulata), to visual predator cues and conspecific alarm
cues during their gestation. Females exposed to predation risk cues
increased their anti-predator behaviors throughout the entire treatment.
Offspring of mothers exposed to the predation stimuli exhibited more
pronounced exploratory behavior, but did not show any significant
differences in their schooling behavior, compared to controls. Thus, while
maternally perceived risk affected offspring’s exploration during early
stages of life, offspring’s schooling behavior could be influenced more by
direct environmental experience, rather than via maternal cues. Our
results suggest a rather limited role in predator-induced maternal effects
on the behavior of juvenile guppies.