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Aguiñaga J, Jin S, Pesati I, Laskowski KL. Behavioral responses of a clonal fish to perceived predation risk. PeerJ 2024; 12:e17547. [PMID: 38912041 PMCID: PMC11192026 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.17547] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2024] [Accepted: 05/19/2024] [Indexed: 06/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Predation threat is a major driver of behavior in many prey species. Animals can recognize their relative risk of predation based on cues in the environment, including visual and/or chemical cues released by a predator or from its prey. When threat of predation is high, prey often respond by altering their behavior to reduce their probability of detection and/or capture. Here, we test how a clonal fish, the Amazon molly (Poecilia formosa), behaviorally responds to predation cues. We measured aggressive and social behaviors both under 'risk', where chemical cues from predatory fish and injured conspecifics were present, and control contexts (no risk cues present). We predicted that mollies would exhibit reduced aggression towards a simulated intruder and increased sociability under risk contexts as aggression might increase their visibility to a predator and shoaling should decrease their chance of capture through the dilution effect. As predicted, we found that Amazon mollies spent more time with a conspecific when risk cues were present, however they did not reduce their aggression. This highlights the general result of the 'safety in numbers' behavioral response that many small shoaling species exhibit, including these clonal fish, which suggests that mollies may view this response as a more effective anti-predator response compared to limiting their detectability by reducing aggressive conspecific interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan Aguiñaga
- Ecology and Evolution, Center for Population Biology, University of California, Davis, Davis, United States of America
| | - Sophia Jin
- Ecology and Evolution, Center for Population Biology, University of California, Davis, Davis, United States of America
| | - Ishita Pesati
- Ecology and Evolution, Center for Population Biology, University of California, Davis, Davis, United States of America
| | - Kate L. Laskowski
- Ecology and Evolution, Center for Population Biology, University of California, Davis, Davis, United States of America
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Stamps JA, Luttbeg B. Sensitive Period Diversity: Insights From Evolutionary Models. THE QUARTERLY REVIEW OF BIOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1086/722637] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
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Ehlman SM, Scherer U, Wolf M. Developmental feedbacks and the emergence of individuality. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 9:221189. [PMID: 36465682 DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.c.6315476] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2022] [Accepted: 11/07/2022] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Behavioural individuality is a hallmark of animal life, with major consequences for fitness, ecology, and evolution. One of the most widely invoked explanations for this variation is that feedback loops between an animal's behaviour and its state (e.g. physiology, informational state, social rank, etc.) trigger and shape the development of individuality. Despite their often-cited importance, however, little is known about the ultimate causes of such feedbacks. Expanding on a previously employed model of adaptive behavioural development under uncertainty, we find that (i) behaviour-state feedbacks emerge as a direct consequence of adaptive behavioural development in particular selective environments and (ii) that the sign of these feedbacks, and thus the consequences for the development of behavioural individuality, can be directly predicted by the shape of the fitness function, with increasing fitness benefits giving rise to positive feedbacks and trait divergence and decreasing fitness benefits leading to negative feedbacks and trait convergence. Our findings provide a testable explanatory framework for the emergence of developmental feedbacks driving individuality and suggest that such feedbacks and their associated patterns of behavioural diversity are a direct consequence of adaptive behavioural development in particular selective environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sean M Ehlman
- SCIoI Excellence Cluster, Berlin, Germany
- Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany
- IGB - Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany
| | - Ulrike Scherer
- SCIoI Excellence Cluster, Berlin, Germany
- Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany
- IGB - Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany
| | - Max Wolf
- SCIoI Excellence Cluster, Berlin, Germany
- IGB - Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany
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Ehlman SM, Scherer U, Wolf M. Developmental feedbacks and the emergence of individuality. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 9:221189. [PMID: 36465682 PMCID: PMC9709565 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.221189] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2022] [Accepted: 11/07/2022] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
Behavioural individuality is a hallmark of animal life, with major consequences for fitness, ecology, and evolution. One of the most widely invoked explanations for this variation is that feedback loops between an animal's behaviour and its state (e.g. physiology, informational state, social rank, etc.) trigger and shape the development of individuality. Despite their often-cited importance, however, little is known about the ultimate causes of such feedbacks. Expanding on a previously employed model of adaptive behavioural development under uncertainty, we find that (i) behaviour-state feedbacks emerge as a direct consequence of adaptive behavioural development in particular selective environments and (ii) that the sign of these feedbacks, and thus the consequences for the development of behavioural individuality, can be directly predicted by the shape of the fitness function, with increasing fitness benefits giving rise to positive feedbacks and trait divergence and decreasing fitness benefits leading to negative feedbacks and trait convergence. Our findings provide a testable explanatory framework for the emergence of developmental feedbacks driving individuality and suggest that such feedbacks and their associated patterns of behavioural diversity are a direct consequence of adaptive behavioural development in particular selective environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sean M. Ehlman
- SCIoI Excellence Cluster, Berlin, Germany
- Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany
- IGB – Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany
| | - Ulrike Scherer
- SCIoI Excellence Cluster, Berlin, Germany
- Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany
- IGB – Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany
| | - Max Wolf
- SCIoI Excellence Cluster, Berlin, Germany
- IGB – Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany
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Ehlman SM, Scherer U, Wolf M. Developmental feedbacks and the emergence of individuality. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 9:221189. [PMID: 36465682 DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7299681] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2022] [Accepted: 11/07/2022] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Behavioural individuality is a hallmark of animal life, with major consequences for fitness, ecology, and evolution. One of the most widely invoked explanations for this variation is that feedback loops between an animal's behaviour and its state (e.g. physiology, informational state, social rank, etc.) trigger and shape the development of individuality. Despite their often-cited importance, however, little is known about the ultimate causes of such feedbacks. Expanding on a previously employed model of adaptive behavioural development under uncertainty, we find that (i) behaviour-state feedbacks emerge as a direct consequence of adaptive behavioural development in particular selective environments and (ii) that the sign of these feedbacks, and thus the consequences for the development of behavioural individuality, can be directly predicted by the shape of the fitness function, with increasing fitness benefits giving rise to positive feedbacks and trait divergence and decreasing fitness benefits leading to negative feedbacks and trait convergence. Our findings provide a testable explanatory framework for the emergence of developmental feedbacks driving individuality and suggest that such feedbacks and their associated patterns of behavioural diversity are a direct consequence of adaptive behavioural development in particular selective environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sean M Ehlman
- SCIoI Excellence Cluster, Berlin, Germany
- Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany
- IGB - Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany
| | - Ulrike Scherer
- SCIoI Excellence Cluster, Berlin, Germany
- Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany
- IGB - Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany
| | - Max Wolf
- SCIoI Excellence Cluster, Berlin, Germany
- IGB - Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany
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Stamps JA, Bell AM. Combining information from parental and personal experiences: Simple processes generate diverse outcomes. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0250540. [PMID: 34255774 PMCID: PMC8277055 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250540] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2021] [Accepted: 06/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Experiences of parents and/or offspring are often assumed to affect the development of trait values in offspring because they provide information about the external environment. However, it is currently unclear how information from parental and offspring experiences might jointly affect the information-states that provide the foundation for the offspring phenotypes observed in empirical studies of developmental plasticity in response to environmental cues. We analyze Bayesian models designed to mimic fully-factorial experimental studies of trans and within- generational plasticity (TWP), in which parents, offspring, both or neither are exposed to cues from predators, to determine how different durations of cue exposure for parents and offspring, the devaluation of information from parents or the degradation of information from parents would affect offspring estimates of environmental states related to risk of predation at the end of such experiments. We show that the effects of different cue durations, the devaluation of information from parents, and the degradation of information from parents on offspring estimates are all expected to vary as a function of interactions with two other key components of information-based models of TWP: parental priors and the relative cue reliability in the different treatments. Our results suggest empiricists should expect to observe considerable variation in the patterns observed in experimental studies of TWP based on simple principles of information-updating, without needing to invoke additional assumptions about costs, tradeoffs, development constraints, the fitness consequences of different trait values, or other factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Judy A. Stamps
- Department of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, United States of America
| | - Alison M. Bell
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, United States of America
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