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Joyce BJ, Brown GE. Olfaction and reaction: The role of olfactory and hypothalamic investment in the antipredator responses to chemical alarm cues by northern redbelly dace. Curr Zool 2023; 69:738-746. [PMID: 37876646 PMCID: PMC10591147 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoac086] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2022] [Accepted: 10/22/2022] [Indexed: 10/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Neuroplasticity enables teleosts to promote or downregulate the growth of their brains regionally. To compensate for the effects of predation pressure, teleosts may alter their brain morphology and behavioral responses to mitigate its impact on individual fitness. High-predation environments often promote specific patterns of brain growth and produce bolder and more proactive populations. Owing to the expense of maintaining neural tissue, relative size indicates the regions most relied upon. In northern redbelly dace Chrosomus eos, as little as 2 weeks of elevated predation pressure, resulted in increased investment in their olfactory bulbs and optic tecta, while the imposition of captivity produced smaller, less symmetric hypothalami. Taken together, these results suggest that an individual could potentially become better able to detect a threat, and simultaneously less inclined to react to it, making the impact of either change in isolation is difficult to discern. Here, we compared interindividual variation in gross brain morphology, risk-taking tactics in a novel arena (shy-bold personality), and responding to olfactory cues (proactive/reactive stress-coping style). We hypothesized that olfactory investment would positively correlate with response intensity to predator cue concentration and respond across a wider range of cue concentrations, while hypothalamus size would correlate with shyness and reactivity. Exposure to heightened risk produced more bold/proactive individuals, with larger olfactory bulbs and smaller hypothalami. However, the direction of the correlation between hypothalamus size and behavior varied by treatment, and olfactory investment only corresponded with response intensity amongst proactive individuals. Our findings illustrate the potential pitfalls of relating gross brain morphology to complex behavior and suggest that stress-coping style is a relevant consideration in future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brendan J Joyce
- Department of Biology, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Grant E Brown
- Department of Biology, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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2
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Sanllehi J, Signaroli M, Pons A, Martorell-Barceló M, Mulet J, Lana A, Barcelo-Serra M, Aspillaga E, Grau A, Catalán IA, Viver T, Alós J. Disparate behavioral types in wild and reared juveniles of gilthead seabream. Sci Rep 2023; 13:11226. [PMID: 37433868 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-37554-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2023] [Accepted: 06/23/2023] [Indexed: 07/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Fish differ consistently in behavior within the same species and population, reflecting distinct behavioral types (BTs). Comparing the behavior of wild and reared individuals provides an excellent opportunity to delve into the ecological and evolutionary consequences of BTs. In this work, we evaluated the behavioral variation of wild and reared juvenile gilthead seabreams, Sparus aurata, a highly relevant species for aquaculture and fisheries. We quantified behavioral variation along the five major axes of fish behavioral traits (exploration-avoidance, aggressiveness, sociability, shyness-boldness, and activity) using standardized behavioral tests and a deep learning tracking algorithm for behavioral annotation. Results revealed significant repeatability in all five behavior traits, suggesting high consistency of individual behavioral variation across the different axes in this species. We found reared fish to be more aggressive, social and active compared to their wild conspecifics. Reared individuals also presented less variance in their aggressiveness, lacking very aggressive and very tame individuals. Phenotypic correlation decomposition between behavioral types revealed two different behavioral syndromes: exploration-sociability and exploration-activity. Our work establishes the first baseline of repeatability scores in wild and reared gilthead seabreams, providing novel insight into the behavior of this important commercial species with implications for fisheries and aquaculture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Javier Sanllehi
- Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados, IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), C/Miquel Marquès 21, 07190, Esporles, Illes Balears, Spain
| | - Marco Signaroli
- Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados, IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), C/Miquel Marquès 21, 07190, Esporles, Illes Balears, Spain
| | - Aina Pons
- Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados, IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), C/Miquel Marquès 21, 07190, Esporles, Illes Balears, Spain.
| | - Martina Martorell-Barceló
- Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados, IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), C/Miquel Marquès 21, 07190, Esporles, Illes Balears, Spain
| | - Júlia Mulet
- Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados, IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), C/Miquel Marquès 21, 07190, Esporles, Illes Balears, Spain
| | - Arancha Lana
- Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados, IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), C/Miquel Marquès 21, 07190, Esporles, Illes Balears, Spain
| | - Margarida Barcelo-Serra
- Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados, IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), C/Miquel Marquès 21, 07190, Esporles, Illes Balears, Spain
| | - Eneko Aspillaga
- Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados, IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), C/Miquel Marquès 21, 07190, Esporles, Illes Balears, Spain
| | - Amalia Grau
- Laboratori d'Investigacions Marines i Aqüicultura d'Andratx, LIMIA (IRFAP), Avinguda de Gabriel Roca i Garcías, 69, 07157, Andratx, Illes Balears, Spain
| | - Ignacio A Catalán
- Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados, IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), C/Miquel Marquès 21, 07190, Esporles, Illes Balears, Spain
| | - Tomeu Viver
- Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados, IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), C/Miquel Marquès 21, 07190, Esporles, Illes Balears, Spain
| | - Josep Alós
- Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados, IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), C/Miquel Marquès 21, 07190, Esporles, Illes Balears, Spain
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3
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Delacoux M, Guenther A. Stressfulness of the design influences consistency of cognitive measures and their correlation with animal personality traits in wild mice (Mus musculus). Anim Cogn 2023; 26:997-1009. [PMID: 36737560 PMCID: PMC10066096 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-023-01748-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2022] [Revised: 01/19/2023] [Accepted: 01/27/2023] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
Individual variation in cognition is being increasingly recognized as an important evolutionary force but contradictory results so far hamper a general understanding of consistency and association with other behaviors. Partly, this might be caused by external factors imposed by the design. Stress, for example, is known to influence cognition, with mild stress improving learning abilities, while strong or chronic stress impairs them. Also, there might be intraspecific variation in how stressful a given situation is perceived. We investigated two personality traits (stress coping and voluntary exploration), spatial learning with two mazes, and problem-solving in low- and high-stress tests with a group of 30 female wild mice (Mus musculus domesticus). For each test, perceived stress was assessed by measuring body temperature change with infrared thermography, a new non-invasive method that measures skin temperature as a proxy of changes in the sympathetic system activity. While spatial learning and problem-solving were found to be repeatable traits in mice in earlier studies, none of the learning measures were significantly repeatable between the two stress conditions in our study, indicating that the stress level impacts learning. We found correlations between learning and personality traits; however, they differed between the two stress conditions and between the cognitive tasks, suggesting that different mechanisms underlie these processes. These findings could explain some of the contradictory findings in the literature and argue for very careful design of cognitive test setups to draw evolutionary implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mathilde Delacoux
- Department for Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, 24306, Plön, Germany. .,Department for Collective Behavior, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, 78464, Constance, Germany. .,Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, 78464, Constance, Germany.
| | - Anja Guenther
- Department for Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, 24306, Plön, Germany
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4
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Galluccio E, Lymbery RA, Wilson A, Evans JP. Personality, sperm traits and a test for their combined dependence on male condition in guppies. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022. [PMID: 35706668 DOI: 10.5061/dryad.00000005n] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
There is evidence that animal personality can affect sexual selection, with studies reporting that male behavioural types are associated with success during pre- and post-copulatory sexual selection. Given these links between personality and sexual traits, and the accumulating evidence that their expression can depend on an individual's dietary status (i.e. condition), a novel prediction is that changes in a male's diet should alter both the average expression of personality and sexual traits, and their covariance. We tested these predictions using the guppy Poecilia reticulata, a species previously shown to exhibit strong condition dependence in ejaculate traits and a positive correlation between sperm production and individual variation in boldness. Contrary to expectation, we found that dietary restriction-when administered in mature adult males-did not affect the expression of either behavioural (boldness and activity) or ejaculate traits, although we did find that males subjected to dietary stress exhibited a positive association between sperm velocity and boldness that was not apparent in the unrestricted diet group. This latter finding points to possible context-dependent patterns of covariance between sexually selected traits and personalities, which may have implications for patterns of selection and evolutionary processes under fluctuating environmental conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edward Galluccio
- Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, 6009 Western Australia, Australia
| | - Rowan A Lymbery
- Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, 6009 Western Australia, Australia
| | - Alastair Wilson
- Centre for Ecology and Evolution, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus, Penryn, UK
| | - Jonathan P Evans
- Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, 6009 Western Australia, Australia
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5
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Galluccio E, Lymbery RA, Wilson A, Evans JP. Personality, sperm traits and a test for their combined dependence on male condition in guppies. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022. [PMID: 35706668 DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.c.6002280] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
There is evidence that animal personality can affect sexual selection, with studies reporting that male behavioural types are associated with success during pre- and post-copulatory sexual selection. Given these links between personality and sexual traits, and the accumulating evidence that their expression can depend on an individual's dietary status (i.e. condition), a novel prediction is that changes in a male's diet should alter both the average expression of personality and sexual traits, and their covariance. We tested these predictions using the guppy Poecilia reticulata, a species previously shown to exhibit strong condition dependence in ejaculate traits and a positive correlation between sperm production and individual variation in boldness. Contrary to expectation, we found that dietary restriction-when administered in mature adult males-did not affect the expression of either behavioural (boldness and activity) or ejaculate traits, although we did find that males subjected to dietary stress exhibited a positive association between sperm velocity and boldness that was not apparent in the unrestricted diet group. This latter finding points to possible context-dependent patterns of covariance between sexually selected traits and personalities, which may have implications for patterns of selection and evolutionary processes under fluctuating environmental conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edward Galluccio
- Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, 6009 Western Australia, Australia
| | - Rowan A Lymbery
- Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, 6009 Western Australia, Australia
| | - Alastair Wilson
- Centre for Ecology and Evolution, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus, Penryn, UK
| | - Jonathan P Evans
- Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, 6009 Western Australia, Australia
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6
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Galluccio E, Lymbery RA, Wilson A, Evans JP. Personality, sperm traits and a test for their combined dependence on male condition in guppies. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 9:220269. [PMID: 35706668 PMCID: PMC9156929 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.220269] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2022] [Accepted: 05/11/2022] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
There is evidence that animal personality can affect sexual selection, with studies reporting that male behavioural types are associated with success during pre- and post-copulatory sexual selection. Given these links between personality and sexual traits, and the accumulating evidence that their expression can depend on an individual's dietary status (i.e. condition), a novel prediction is that changes in a male's diet should alter both the average expression of personality and sexual traits, and their covariance. We tested these predictions using the guppy Poecilia reticulata, a species previously shown to exhibit strong condition dependence in ejaculate traits and a positive correlation between sperm production and individual variation in boldness. Contrary to expectation, we found that dietary restriction-when administered in mature adult males-did not affect the expression of either behavioural (boldness and activity) or ejaculate traits, although we did find that males subjected to dietary stress exhibited a positive association between sperm velocity and boldness that was not apparent in the unrestricted diet group. This latter finding points to possible context-dependent patterns of covariance between sexually selected traits and personalities, which may have implications for patterns of selection and evolutionary processes under fluctuating environmental conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edward Galluccio
- Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, 6009 Western Australia, Australia
| | - Rowan A. Lymbery
- Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, 6009 Western Australia, Australia
| | - Alastair Wilson
- Centre for Ecology and Evolution, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus, Penryn, UK
| | - Jonathan P. Evans
- Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, 6009 Western Australia, Australia
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7
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Savaşçı BB, Lucon-Xiccato T, Bisazza A. Ontogeny and personality affect inhibitory control in guppies, Poecilia reticulata. Anim Behav 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.08.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
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8
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Makaras T, Stankevičiūtė M, Šidagytė-Copilas E, Virbickas T, Razumienė J. Acclimation effect on fish behavioural characteristics: determination of appropriate acclimation period for different species. JOURNAL OF FISH BIOLOGY 2021; 99:502-512. [PMID: 33783817 DOI: 10.1111/jfb.14740] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2020] [Revised: 03/08/2021] [Accepted: 03/25/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
In the present study, the authors investigated the effect of acclimation duration (up to 4 h) on behavioural characteristics of taxonomically and functionally different fish species, i.e., the migratory rheophilic salmonids rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), and the non-migratory eurytopic European perch (Perca fluviatilis) and three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). Specifically, the authors explored fish behavioural patterns based on specific endpoints (average, maximum and angular velocity) during the acclimation period, and determined the acclimation period suitable for the tested fish species. The performed behavioural data analysis showed that the minimum time needed to adjust fish activity to a more stable (baseline) level should be at least 2 h for O. mykiss and S. salar and 1 h for G. aculeatus. Nonetheless, P. fluviatilis behaviour did not show significant changes during the 4 h acclimation. The results of this study revealed that the effect of the acclimation duration on such rheophilic species as O. mykiss and S. salar was greater than that on the eurytopic species P. fluviatilis and G. aculeatus, indicating that acclimation period is important in managing fish stress before behavioural observations. For all species, the highest variability was found in the endpoint of maximum velocity, and the lowest in that of angular velocity. This study showed that before starting actual toxicity testing experiments, it is important to determine an appropriate, species-specific acclimation period.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tomas Makaras
- Nature Research Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania
- Life Sciences Center, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania
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Killen SS, Nadler LE, Grazioso K, Cox A, McCormick MI. The effect of metabolic phenotype on sociability and social group size preference in a coral reef fish. Ecol Evol 2021. [DOI: 10.1002/ece3.7672] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Shaun S. Killen
- College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine University of Glasgow Glasgow UK
| | - Lauren E. Nadler
- Department of Marine Biology and Aquaculture ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies James Cook University Townsville Qld Australia
| | - Kathryn Grazioso
- Department of Marine Biology and Ecology Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science University of Miami Miami FL USA
| | - Amy Cox
- Biological and Chemical Sciences The University of the West Indies St. Michael Barbados
| | - Mark I. McCormick
- Department of Marine Biology and Aquaculture ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies James Cook University Townsville Qld Australia
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10
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Martorell-Barceló M, Mulet J, Sanllehi J, Signaroli M, Lana A, Barcelo-Serra M, Aspillaga E, Alós J. Aggressiveness-related behavioural types in the pearly razorfish. PeerJ 2021; 9:e10731. [PMID: 33850638 PMCID: PMC8018250 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.10731] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2020] [Accepted: 12/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Behavioural types (i.e., personalities or temperament) are defined as among individual differences in behavioural traits that are consistent over time and ecological contexts. Behavioural types are widespread in nature and play a relevant role in many ecological and evolutionary processes. In this work, we studied for the first time the consistency of individual aggressiveness in the pearly razorfish, Xyrichtys novacula, using a mirror test: a classic method to define aggressive behavioural types. The experiments were carried out in semi-natural behavioural arenas and monitored through a novel Raspberry Pi-based recording system. The experimental set up allowed us to obtain repeated measures of individual aggressivity scores during four consecutive days. The decomposition of the phenotypic variance revealed a significant repeatability score (R) of 0.57 [0.44-0.60], suggesting high predictability of individual behavioural variation and the existence of different behavioural types. Aggressive behavioural types emerged irrespective of body size, sex and the internal condition of the individual. Razorfishes are a ubiquitous group of fish species that occupy sedimentary habitats in most shallow waters of temperate and tropical seas. These species are known for forming strong social structures and playing a relevant role in ecosystem functioning. Therefore, our work provides novel insight into an individual behavioural component that may play a role in poorly known ecological and evolutionary processes occurring in this species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martina Martorell-Barceló
- Fish Ecology Group, Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados, IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Esporles, Spain
| | - Júlia Mulet
- Fish Ecology Group, Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados, IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Esporles, Spain.,Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Javier Sanllehi
- Fish Ecology Group, Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados, IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Esporles, Spain
| | - Marco Signaroli
- Fish Ecology Group, Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados, IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Esporles, Spain
| | - Arancha Lana
- Fish Ecology Group, Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados, IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Esporles, Spain
| | - Margarida Barcelo-Serra
- Fish Ecology Group, Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados, IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Esporles, Spain
| | - Eneko Aspillaga
- Fish Ecology Group, Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados, IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Esporles, Spain
| | - Josep Alós
- Fish Ecology Group, Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados, IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Esporles, Spain
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11
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Anwer H, Mason D, Zajitschek S, Noble DWA, Hesselson D, Morris MJ, Lagisz M, Nakagawa S. An efficient new assay for measuring zebrafish anxiety: Tall tanks that better characterize between-individual differences. J Neurosci Methods 2021; 356:109138. [PMID: 33753125 DOI: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2021.109138] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2020] [Revised: 01/31/2021] [Accepted: 03/11/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Zebrafish (Danio rerio) are increasingly being used to model anxiety. A common behavioral assay employed for assessing anxiety-like behaviors in zebrafish is the "novel tank test". We hypothesized that using deeper tanks in this test would result in greater between-individual variation in behavioral responses and a more 'repeatable' assay. NEW METHODS After mapping the literature and identifying common behavioral parameters used in analysis, we performed novel tank anxiety tests in both custom-designed 'tall' tanks with increased depth and 'short' trapezoidal tanks. We compared the repeatability of the behavioral parameters between tall and short tanks and also investigated sex differences. RESULTS Overall, regardless of tank depth, almost all behavioral parameters associated with anxiety in zebrafish were significantly repeatable (R = 0.24 to 0.60). Importantly, our tall tanks better captured between-individual differences, resulting in higher repeatability estimates (average repeatability tall tanks: R = 0.46; average repeatability short tanks: R = 0.36) and clearer sex differences. CONCLUSIONS Our assay using tall tanks has advantages over tests based on short tanks which underestimate repeatability. We argue that use of deeper tanks will improve the reliability of behavioral data across studies using novel tank tests for zebrafish. Our results also call for increased attention in designing the most appropriate assay in biomedical and behavioral sciences as current methods may lack the sensitivity to detect subtle, yet important, information, such as between-individual variation, an important component in assessing the reliability of behavioral data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hamza Anwer
- Evolution & Ecology Research Centre and School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia; Diabetes and Metabolism Division, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Darlinghurst, Sydney, NSW, 2010, Australia.
| | - Dominic Mason
- Evolution & Ecology Research Centre and School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia; Diabetes and Metabolism Division, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Darlinghurst, Sydney, NSW, 2010, Australia
| | - Susanne Zajitschek
- Evolution & Ecology Research Centre and School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia; Diabetes and Metabolism Division, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Darlinghurst, Sydney, NSW, 2010, Australia; Liverpool John Moores University, School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Liverpool, L3 3 AF, United Kingdom
| | - Daniel W A Noble
- Evolution & Ecology Research Centre and School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia; Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 0200, Australia
| | - Daniel Hesselson
- Diabetes and Metabolism Division, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Darlinghurst, Sydney, NSW, 2010, Australia; Centenary Institute and Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia
| | - Margaret J Morris
- Department of Pharmacology, School of Medical Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia
| | - Malgorzata Lagisz
- Evolution & Ecology Research Centre and School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia; Diabetes and Metabolism Division, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Darlinghurst, Sydney, NSW, 2010, Australia
| | - Shinichi Nakagawa
- Evolution & Ecology Research Centre and School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia; Diabetes and Metabolism Division, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Darlinghurst, Sydney, NSW, 2010, Australia
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12
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Individual behavioural traits not social context affects learning about novel objects in archerfish. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-021-02996-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Learning can enable rapid behavioural responses to changing conditions but can depend on the social context and behavioural phenotype of the individual. Learning rates have been linked to consistent individual differences in behavioural traits, especially in situations which require engaging with novelty, but the social environment can also play an important role. The presence of others can modulate the effects of individual behavioural traits and afford access to social information that can reduce the need for ‘risky’ asocial learning. Most studies of social effects on learning are focused on more social species; however, such factors can be important even for less-social animals, including non-grouping or facultatively social species which may still derive benefit from social conditions. Using archerfish, Toxotes chatareus, which exhibit high levels of intra-specific competition and do not show a strong preference for grouping, we explored the effect of social contexts on learning. Individually housed fish were assayed in an ‘open-field’ test and then trained to criterion in a task where fish learnt to shoot a novel cue for a food reward—with a conspecific neighbour visible either during training, outside of training or never (full, partial or no visible presence). Time to learn to shoot the novel cue differed across individuals but not across social context. This suggests that social context does not have a strong effect on learning in this non-obligatory social species; instead, it further highlights the importance that inter-individual variation in behavioural traits can have on learning.
Significance statement
Some individuals learn faster than others. Many factors can affect an animal’s learning rate—for example, its behavioural phenotype may make it more or less likely to engage with novel objects. The social environment can play a big role too—affecting learning directly and modifying the effects of an individual’s traits. Effects of social context on learning mostly come from highly social species, but recent research has focused on less-social animals. Archerfish display high intra-specific competition, and our study suggests that social context has no strong effect on their learning to shoot novel objects for rewards. Our results may have some relevance for social enrichment and welfare of this increasingly studied species, suggesting there are no negative effects of short- to medium-term isolation of this species—at least with regards to behavioural performance and learning tasks.
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13
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Sbragaglia V, López-Olmeda JF, Frigato E, Bertolucci C, Arlinghaus R. Size-selective mortality induces evolutionary changes in group risk-taking behaviour and the circadian system in a fish. J Anim Ecol 2020; 90:387-403. [PMID: 33064849 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.13372] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2020] [Accepted: 10/05/2020] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
Intensive and trait-selective mortality of fish and wildlife can cause evolutionary changes in a range of life-history and behavioural traits. These changes might in turn alter the circadian system due to co-evolutionary mechanisms or correlated selection responses both at behavioural and molecular levels, with knock-on effects on daily physiological processes and behavioural outputs. We examined the evolutionary impact of size-selective mortality on group risk-taking behaviour and the circadian system in a model fish species. We exposed zebrafish Danio rerio to either large or small size-selective harvesting relative to a control over five generations, followed by eight generations during which harvesting was halted to remove maternal effects. Size-selective mortality affected fine-scale timing of behaviours. In particular, small size-selective mortality, typical of specialized fisheries and gape-limited predators targeting smaller size classes, increased group risk-taking behaviuor during feeding and after simulated predator attacks. Moreover, small size-selective mortality increased early peaks of daily activity as well as extended self-feeding daily activity to the photophase compared to controls. By contrast large size-selective mortality, typical of most wild capture fisheries, only showed an almost significant effect of decreasing group risk-taking behaviour during the habituation phase and no clear changes in fine-scale timing of daily behavioural rhythms compared to controls. We also found changes in the molecular circadian core clockwork in response to both size-selective mortality treatments. These changes disappeared in the clock output pathway because both size-selected lines showed similar transcription profiles. This switch downstream to the molecular circadian core clockwork also resulted in similar overall behavioural rhythms (diurnal swimming and self-feeding in the last hours of darkness) independent of the underlying molecular clock. To conclude, our experimental harvest left an asymmetrical evolutionary legacy in group risk-taking behaviour and in fine-scale daily behavioural rhythms. Yet, the overall timing of activity showed evolutionary resistance probably maintained by a molecular switch. Our experimental findings suggest that size-selective mortality can have consequences for behaviour and physiological processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valerio Sbragaglia
- Department of Biology and Ecology of Fishes, Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany.,Department of Marine Renewable Resources, Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Jose Fernando López-Olmeda
- Department of Physiology, Faculty of Biology, Regional Campus of International Excellence "Campus Mare Nostrum", University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain
| | - Elena Frigato
- Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
| | - Cristiano Bertolucci
- Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
| | - Robert Arlinghaus
- Department of Biology and Ecology of Fishes, Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany.,Division of Integrative Fisheries Management, Faculty of Life Sciences & Integrative Research Institute on Transformations of Human-Environment Systems (IRI THESys), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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Lucon-Xiccato T, Montalbano G, Bertolucci C. Personality traits covary with individual differences in inhibitory abilities in 2 species of fish. Curr Zool 2020; 66:187-195. [PMID: 32440277 PMCID: PMC7233618 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoz039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2019] [Accepted: 08/03/2019] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
In a number of animal species, individuals differ in their ability to solve cognitive tasks. However, the mechanisms underlying this variability remain unclear. It has been proposed that individual differences in cognition may be related to individual differences in behavior (i.e., personality); a hypothesis that has received mixed support. In this study, we investigated whether personality correlates with the cognitive ability that allows inhibiting behavior in 2 teleost fish species, the zebrafish Danio rerio and the guppy Poecilia reticulata. In both species, individuals that were bolder in a standard personality assay, the open-field test, showed greater inhibitory abilities in the tube task, which required them to inhibit foraging behavior toward live prey sealed into a transparent tube. This finding reveals a relationship between boldness and inhibitory abilities in fish and lends support to the hypothesis of a link between personality and cognition. Moreover, this study suggests that species separated by a relatively large phylogenetic distance may show the same link between personality and cognition, when tested on the same tasks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tyrone Lucon-Xiccato
- Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, Via L. Borsari 46, Ferrara, 44121, Italy
| | - Giulia Montalbano
- Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, Via L. Borsari 46, Ferrara, 44121, Italy
| | - Cristiano Bertolucci
- Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, Via L. Borsari 46, Ferrara, 44121, Italy
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Makaras T, Montvydienė D, Kazlauskienė N, Stankevičiūtė M, Raudonytė-Svirbutavičienė E. Juvenile fish responses to sublethal leachate concentrations: comparison of sensitivity of different behavioral endpoints. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2020; 27:4876-4890. [PMID: 31845261 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-019-07211-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2019] [Accepted: 11/29/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
The aim of the present study was to investigate changes in the locomotor activity of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) juveniles under the impact (2 h) of landfill leachate (as a multicomponent mixture) based on different endpoints such as average, maximum and angular velocities, movement duration, body mobility, and blood glucose level. Fish were exposed to five different sublethal leachate concentrations (0, 0.0625, 0.125, 0.25, and 0.5%). The locomotor activity of the leachate-exposed fish significantly decreased at 0.25 and 0.5% concentrations. Significant changes in fish behavior in response to sublethal leachate concentrations were determined during the first minutes of exposure. Angular velocity proved to be the most sensitive of all the endpoints tested. A positive correlation was observed among behavioral responses, but no correlation was established between the blood glucose level and behavioral endpoints. The blood glucose endpoint was found to be insensitive, and we suggest that it should be used only in combination with other endpoints to complement toxicity data. To enhance the understanding of rainbow trout behavioral characteristics in relation to time, and relations among behavioral endpoints of the fish under short-term exposure to a multicomponent mixture, in the current study, we investigated dynamics of the selected behavioral endpoints over time, relations among these endpoints and compared behavioral response rapidness and efficacy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tomas Makaras
- Nature Research Centre, Akademijos St. 2, 08412, Vilnius, Lithuania.
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Male guppies differ in daily frequency but not diel pattern of display under daily light changes. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-019-2768-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
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The plus maze and scototaxis test are not valid behavioral assays for anxiety assessment in the South African clawed frog. J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol 2019; 205:567-582. [DOI: 10.1007/s00359-019-01351-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2018] [Revised: 05/17/2019] [Accepted: 05/24/2019] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
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