The impact of size-selective fisheries on the consistency of personality traits in guppies (Poecilia reticulata)

Natural selection is one of the most important forces of evolution. From generation to generation, the best adapted individuals of a population to the current environmental conditions remain preserved and their genes are transmitted to their offspring by reproduction. Selection always depends on the individual phenotype and the associated fitness. Phenotypes are the result of genetic constitution and phenotypic plasticity. Only if the genotypes are changed in frequency as a result of selection it is termed evolutionary adaptation. The phenotypes include all detectable traits of an individual e.g. the visual appearance, shape, color and life history.