Testing for a Link Between Personality and Mate-Choice Copying Tendency in the Trinidadian Guppy (Poecilia Reticulata)

An unexplored area of research is whether personality influences how individuals use social information in a mating context. Here, I experimentally tested, using virgin female Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata), whether (i) exploratory behaviour and boldness in individual females are repeatable over time, (ii) the exploratory tendency of individuals is correlated with their boldness, (iii) mate-choice copying behaviour is repeatable, and (iv) personality is correlated with an individual’s tendency to mate-choice copy when given the opportunity to do so. Although both personality scores varied widely among females, neither exploratory or boldness behaviour was significantly repeatable, nor were they correlated with each other. Mate-choice copying behaviour was also not found to be repeatable, and neither personality trait was correlated with an individual’s tendency to mate-choice copy. These results suggest that female guppies were able to adjust their exploratory behaviour and boldness independently of one another.