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Berisha H, Horváth G, Fišer Ž, Balázs G, Fišer C, Herczeg G. Sex-dependent increase of movement activity in the freshwater isopod Asellus aquaticus following adaptation to a predator-free cave habitat. Curr Zool 2023; 69:418-425. [PMID: 37614916 PMCID: PMC10443615 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoac063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2022] [Accepted: 08/02/2022] [Indexed: 08/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Populations experiencing negligible predation pressure are expected to evolve higher behavioral activity. However, when sexes have different expected benefits from high activity, the adaptive shift is expected to be sex-specific. Here, we compared movement activity of one cave (lack of predation) and three adjacent surface (high and diverse predation) populations of Asellus aquaticus, a freshwater isopod known for its independent colonization of several caves across Europe. We predicted 1) higher activity in cave than in surface populations, with 2) the difference being more pronounced in males as they are known for active mate searching behavior, while females are not. Activity was assessed both in the presence and absence of light. Our results supported both predictions: movement activity was higher in the cave than in the surface populations, particularly in males. Relaxed predation pressure in the cave-adapted population is most likely the main selective factor behind increased behavioral activity, but we also showed that the extent of increase is sex-specific.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hajriz Berisha
- Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, Biological Institute, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary H-1117
| | - Gergely Horváth
- Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, Biological Institute, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary H-1117
- ELKH-ELTE-MTM Integrative Ecology Research Group, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary H-1117
| | - Žiga Fišer
- Department of Biology, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Jamnikarjeva 101, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Gergely Balázs
- Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, Biological Institute, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary H-1117
- ELKH-ELTE-MTM Integrative Ecology Research Group, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary H-1117
| | - Cene Fišer
- Department of Biology, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Jamnikarjeva 101, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Gábor Herczeg
- Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, Biological Institute, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary H-1117
- ELKH-ELTE-MTM Integrative Ecology Research Group, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary H-1117
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Krama T, Munkevics M, Krams R, Grigorjeva T, Trakimas G, Jõers P, Popovs S, Zants K, Elferts D, Rantala MJ, Sledevskis E, Contreras-Garduño J, de Bivort BL, Krams IA. Development under predation risk increases serotonin-signaling, variability of turning behavior and survival in adult fruit flies Drosophila melanogaster. Front Behav Neurosci 2023; 17:1189301. [PMID: 37304760 PMCID: PMC10248140 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2023.1189301] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2023] [Accepted: 05/09/2023] [Indexed: 06/13/2023] Open
Abstract
The development of high-throughput behavioral assays, where numerous individual animals can be analyzed in various experimental conditions, has facilitated the study of animal personality. Previous research showed that isogenic Drosophila melanogaster flies exhibit striking individual non-heritable locomotor handedness. The variability of this trait, i.e., the predictability of left-right turn biases, varies across genotypes and under the influence of neural activity in specific circuits. This suggests that the brain can dynamically regulate the extent of animal personality. It has been recently shown that predators can induce changes in prey phenotypes via lethal or non-lethal effects affecting the serotonergic signaling system. In this study, we tested whether fruit flies grown with predators exhibit higher variability/lower predictability in their turning behavior and higher survival than those grown with no predators in their environment. We confirmed these predictions and found that both effects were blocked when flies were fed an inhibitor (αMW) of serotonin synthesis. The results of this study demonstrate a negative association between the unpredictability of turning behavior of fruit flies and the hunting success of their predators. We also show that the neurotransmitter serotonin controls predator-induced changes in the turning variability of fruit flies, regulating the dynamic control of behavioral predictability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tatjana Krama
- Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Life Sciences and Technologies, Daugavpils University, Daugavpils, Latvia
- Chair of Plant Health, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Māris Munkevics
- Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Life Sciences and Technologies, Daugavpils University, Daugavpils, Latvia
- Department of Zoology and Animal Ecology, Faculty of Biology, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia
| | - Ronalds Krams
- Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Life Sciences and Technologies, Daugavpils University, Daugavpils, Latvia
- Chair of Plant Health, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Tatjana Grigorjeva
- Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Life Sciences and Technologies, Daugavpils University, Daugavpils, Latvia
| | - Giedrius Trakimas
- Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Life Sciences and Technologies, Daugavpils University, Daugavpils, Latvia
- Institute of Biosciences, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania
| | - Priit Jõers
- Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Sergejs Popovs
- Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Life Sciences and Technologies, Daugavpils University, Daugavpils, Latvia
| | - Krists Zants
- Department of Zoology and Animal Ecology, Faculty of Biology, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia
| | - Didzis Elferts
- Department of Botany and Ecology, Faculty of Biology, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia
| | - Markus J. Rantala
- Department of Biology, Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| | - Eriks Sledevskis
- Department of Technology, Institute of Life Sciences and Technologies, Daugavpils University, Daugavpils, Latvia
| | - Jorge Contreras-Garduño
- Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Morelia, Mexico
- Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Benjamin L. de Bivort
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States
| | - Indrikis A. Krams
- Department of Zoology and Animal Ecology, Faculty of Biology, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia
- Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre, Riga, Latvia
- Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
- Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Knoxville, TN, United States
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Soravia C, Bisazza A, Cecere JG, Rubolini D. Extra food provisioning does not affect behavioural lateralization in nestling lesser kestrels. Curr Zool 2022; 69:66-75. [PMID: 36974149 PMCID: PMC10039179 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoac021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2022] [Accepted: 03/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Costs and benefits of brain lateralization may depend on environmental conditions. Growing evidence indicates that the development of brain functional asymmetries is adaptively shaped by the environmental conditions experienced during early life. Food availability early in life could act as a proxy of the environmental conditions encountered during adulthood, but its potential modulatory effect on lateralization has received little attention. We increased food supply from egg laying to early nestling rearing in a wild population of lesser kestrels Falco naumanni, a sexually dimorphic raptor, and quantified the lateralization of preening behaviour (head turning direction). As more lateralized individuals may perform better in highly competitive contexts, we expected that extra food provisioning, by reducing the level of intra-brood competition for food, would reduce the strength of lateralization. We found that extra food provisioning improved nestling growth, but it did not significantly affect the strength or direction of nestling lateralization. In addition, maternal body condition did not explain variation in nestling lateralization. Independently of extra food provisioning, the direction of lateralization differed between the sexes, with female nestlings turning more often towards their right. Our findings indicate that early food availability does not modulate behavioural lateralization in a motor task, suggesting limited phenotypic plasticity in this trait.
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Affiliation(s)
- Camilla Soravia
- Centre for Evolutionary Biology (M092), University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Perth, WA, 6009, Australia
| | - Angelo Bisazza
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, via Venezia 8, Padova, I-35131, Italy
- Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, Via Orus 2/B, Padova, I-35129, Italy
| | - Jacopo G Cecere
- ISPRA—The Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, via Cà Fornacetta 9, Ozzano dell'Emilia (, BO, I-40064, Italy, )
| | - Diego Rubolini
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Celoria 26, Milano, I-20133, Italy
- Istituto di Ricerca sulle Acque, IRSA-CNR, Via del Mulino 19, Brugherio, MB, I-20861, Italy,
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Predation shapes behavioral lateralization: insights from an adaptive radiation of livebearing fish. Behav Ecol 2021. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arab098] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Hemispheric brain lateralization can drive the expression of behavioral asymmetry, or laterality, which varies notably both within and among species. To explain these left–right behavioral asymmetries in animals, predator-mediated selection is often invoked. Recent studies have revealed that a relatively high degree of lateralization correlates positively with traits known to confer survival benefits against predators, including escape performance, multitasking abilities, and group coordination. Yet, we still know comparatively little about 1) how consistently predators shape behavioral lateralization, 2) the importance of sex-specific variation, and 3) the degree to which behavioral lateralization is heritable. Here, we take advantage of the model system of the radiation of Bahamas mosquitofish (Gambusia hubbsi) and measure behavioral lateralization in hundreds of wild fish originating from multiple blue holes that differ in natural predation pressure. Moreover, we estimated the heritability of this trait using laboratory-born fish from one focal population. We found that the degree of lateralization but not the particular direction of lateralization (left or right) differed significantly across high and low predation risk environments. Fish originating from high-predation environments were more strongly lateralized, especially females. We further confirmed a genetic basis to behavioral lateralization in this species, with significant additive genetic variation in the population examined. Our results reveal that predation risk represents one key ecological factor that has likely shaped the origin and maintenance of this widespread behavioral phenomenon, even potentially explaining some of the sex-specific patterns of laterality recently described in some animals.
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