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Morin A, Culbert BM, Mehdi H, Balshine S, Turko AJ. Status-dependent metabolic effects of social interactions in a group-living fish. Biol Lett 2024; 20:20240056. [PMID: 39045657 PMCID: PMC11267398 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2024] [Revised: 05/14/2024] [Accepted: 06/12/2024] [Indexed: 07/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Social interactions can sometimes be a source of stress, but social companions can also ameliorate and buffer against stress. Stress and metabolism are closely linked, but the degree to which social companions modulate metabolic responses during stressful situations-and whether such effects differ depending on social rank-is poorly understood. To investigate this question, we studied Neolamprologus pulcher, a group-living cichlid fish endemic to Lake Tanganyika and measured the metabolic responses of dominant and subordinate individuals when they were either visible or concealed from one another. When individuals could see each other, subordinates had lower maximum metabolic rates and tended to take longer to recover following an exhaustive chase compared with dominants. In contrast, metabolic responses of dominants and subordinates did not differ when individuals could not see one another. These findings suggest that the presence of a dominant individual has negative metabolic consequences for subordinates, even in stable social groups with strong prosocial relationships.
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Affiliation(s)
- André Morin
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, 75 Pigdons Road, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
| | - Brett M. Culbert
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
| | - Hossein Mehdi
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
| | - Sigal Balshine
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
| | - Andy J. Turko
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
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Hirons-Major C, Ruberto T, Swaney WT, Reddon AR. Submissive behaviour is affected by group size in a social fish. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2024; 11:240539. [PMID: 39076789 PMCID: PMC11285878 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.240539] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2024] [Revised: 04/25/2024] [Accepted: 04/26/2024] [Indexed: 07/31/2024]
Abstract
For social groups to form and be stable over time, animals must develop strategies to cope with conflict among group members. Animals may behave submissively either by fleeing from an aggressor, or by signalling submission. The use of these two submissive responses may vary depending on the social and ecological context. Group size is a key aspect of social context for group living animals, as individuals in smaller groups may respond to aggression differently than those from larger groups. Here, we examine the relationship between group size and submissive behaviour in a cooperatively breeding fish, the daffodil cichlid (Neolamprologus pulcher). We found that subordinate fish showed similar levels of submission signals in response to dominant aggression in larger and smaller groups, however, subordinates from larger groups were less likely to flee from dominant aggression than those in smaller groups. Subordinates in larger groups also showed more digging behaviour which may be also used to avoid conflict with the dominant group members. Our data show that social context affects submissive behaviour in a cooperatively breeding fish.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chelsie Hirons-Major
- School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK
| | - Tommaso Ruberto
- School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK
| | - William T. Swaney
- School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK
| | - Adam R. Reddon
- School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK
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Culbert BM, Barnett JB, Ligocki IY, Salena MG, Wong MYL, Hamilton IM, Balshine S. Colorful facial markings are associated with foraging rates and affiliative relationships in a wild group-living cichlid fish. Curr Zool 2024; 70:70-78. [PMID: 38476131 PMCID: PMC10926260 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoac100] [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: 08/16/2022] [Accepted: 12/11/2022] [Indexed: 03/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Many animals use color to signal their quality and/or behavioral motivations. Colorful signals have been well studied in the contexts of competition and mate choice; however, the role of these signals in nonsexual, affiliative relationships is not as well understood. Here, we used wild social groups of the cichlid fish Neolamprologus pulcher to investigate whether the size of a brightly colored facial patch was related to 1) individual quality, 2) social dominance, and/or 3) affiliative relationships. Individuals with larger patches spent more time foraging and tended to perform more aggressive acts against conspecific territory intruders. We did not find any evidence that the size of these yellow patches was related to social rank or body size, but dominant males tended to have larger patches than dominant females. Additionally, patch size had a rank-specific relationship with the number of affiliative interactions that individuals engaged in. Dominant males with large patches received fewer affiliative acts from their groupmates compared to dominant males with small patches. However, subordinates with large patches tended to receive more affiliative acts from their groupmates while performing fewer affiliative acts themselves. Taken together, our results suggest that patch size reflects interindividual variation in foraging effort in this cichlid fish and offer some of the first evidence that colorful signals may shape affiliative relationships within wild social groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brett M Culbert
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
| | - James B Barnett
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
| | - Isaac Y Ligocki
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
- Department of Biology, Millersville University, Millersville, PA, USA
| | - Matthew G Salena
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
| | - Marian Y L Wong
- School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Ian M Hamilton
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
- Department of Mathematics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Sigal Balshine
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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Reddon AR, Aubin‐Horth N, Reader SM. Wild guppies from populations exposed to higher predation risk exhibit greater vasotocin brain gene expression. J Zool (1987) 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/jzo.12937] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- A. R. Reddon
- School of Biological and Environmental Sciences Liverpool John Moores University Liverpool UK
- Department of Biology McGill University Montreal Quebec Canada
| | - N. Aubin‐Horth
- Département de Biologie et Institut de Biologie Intégrative et des Systèmes Université Laval Quebec City Québec Canada
| | - S. M. Reader
- Department of Biology McGill University Montreal Quebec Canada
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