Social environment shapes male color development in Trinidadian guppies

Plasticity plays an important role in species persistence under environmental change. Morphological traits are well-known to respond to various ecological factors like temperature and predation, but less is known about the effect of social cues. In this study, we test the impact of both predator and social environmental cues on the development of male body coloration in Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata) adapted to different predation regimes. We raised second-generation (F2) fish adapted to either a high (HP) or low (LP) predation environment in a full-sibling experimental design under two crossed environments: a predator treatment (with or without predator cues) and a social treatment (isolated, or with adult tutors from their predation regime, or the opposite). Guppies adapted to a low-predation environment had a greater relative area of orange color than high-predation guppies, repeating previous results indicating a genetic basis to male coloration. Surprisingly, predator cu..., , , # Social environment shapes male color development in Trinidadian guppies

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.6m905qg98](10.5061/dryad.6m905qg98)

## Description of the data and file structure

Files are stored in comma-separated values (.csv) format.

### Files and variables

#### File: Raw_Images.zip

**Description:** Contains the raw images of the experiment. Each picture contains the focal male guppy and a label with the focal male's unique ID.

#### File: colorplasticity2021.csv

**Description:** Contains the metadata and color data of the experiment.

##### Variables

* pop = Population of origin. One of two: `AH` for Aripo High Predation; `AL` for Aripo Low Predation
* pred_trt = Predator Treatment. `N` for no predator cues; `Y` for predator cues.
* soc_trt = Social Treatment: `solo` for rearing alone; `same` for reared with conspecifics of the same population; `dif` for reared with conspecifics from the other population.
* tutor_pop: Population of origin of the tutors (AH or AL)
* sex ...,