Early-life social environment alters juvenile behavior and neuroendocrine function in a highly social cichlid fish

Solomon‐Lane, Tessa K.; Hofmann, Hans A.

doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2019.06.016

Cited by 26 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 128 publications

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“…The ability to adapt to environmental changes is an essential feature of biological systems, achieved in multicellular organisms by a coordinated crosstalk between neuronal and hormonal programs that generate plastic physiological and behavioral responses to environmental challenges [1][2][3] . This is particularly important in a dynamic environment such as the social domain composed of many behaving animals, the interaction with ultimately determines the reproductive success of individuals 2,[4][5][6] . The intricate nature of social interaction requires the ability to recognize other members of the group in the right context, season, sex, age and reproductive state, and integrate this information with prior experience to produce the appropriate and optimal behavioral response 5 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Failure to mate enhances investment in behaviors that may promote mating reward and impairs the ability to cope with stressors via a subpopulation of Neuropeptide F receptor neurons

Omesi

Levi

Bentzur³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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In highly polyandrous species, where females mate with multiple males within a single fertility period, there is typically a high level of sperm competition. To cope with this challenge, males apply various behavioral and physiological strategies to maximize their paternity rates. Previous studies in Drosophila melanogaster established a link between the composition of the social environment and the reproductive success of individual male flies. While most studies until now focused on the adaptive responses of male flies to the presence of rival males, little is known about whether the outcomes of sexual interactions with female partners affect male-male social interactions in a competitive environment such as the social group. Here we show that repeated failures to mate promote a coordinated physiological and behavioral responses that can serve to increase paternity chances over mating rivals. We exposed male flies to sexual deprivation or successful mating and analyzed the behavioral repertoires of individuals within groups and the structure of their emerging social networks. We discovered that failures to mate and successful mating generate distinct emergent group interactions and structures, where sexually deprived males form low density social networks and actively minimize their encounters with other group members, while increasing their aggressive behavior. In addition, sexually deprived male flies elevate the production of seminal fluid proteins (known to facilitate post-mating responses in females) and extend mating duration upon mating with receptive females, altogether leading to reduced re-mating rates. Our results demonstrate the existence of a flexible mating strategy that may provide a short-term fitness advantage over competing rivals and pave the path for using simple model organisms to dissect the neurobiology of social plasticity as coping strategy to living in a highly dynamic environment as the social domain.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Failure to mate enhances investment in behaviors that may promote mating reward and impairs the ability to cope with stressors via a subpopulation of Neuropeptide F receptor neurons

Omesi

Levi

Bentzur³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…To assess behavior as a function of SL differences, we conducted resident-intruder assays. We took several steps to control for social experience, familiarity, and age of both the resident and intruder, since these factors have been found to influence behavior in A. burtoni (Alcazar et al, 2014;Solomon-Lane & Hofmann, 2019;Weitekamp et al, 2017). Taking these steps was necessary to isolate specifically variation in relative SL as the factor relevant to any variation in behavior we observed.…”

Section: General Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, one feature seems to be true across species: physical or injurious behaviors are considered to be escalatory, occurring primarily in response to conflicts that are difficult to resolve (Holekamp & Strauss, 2016;Maynard Smith & Harper, 1988;van Staaden et al, 2011). Such is the case for the African cichlid fish Astatotilapia burtoni, where males stratify along a dominance hierarchy and exist as either non-dominant (also referred to as subordinate by others (e.g Maruska, 2015;Solomon-Lane & Hofmann, 2019)) or dominant (Fernald, 2012). Dominant A. burtoni males possess a territory that they defend through aggressive interactions and in which they court and mate with females, while non-dominant males do not perform these behaviors.…”

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confidence: 99%

A behavioral logic underlying aggression in an African cichlid fish

et al. 2021

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Evolution has shaped social dynamics across species to resolve aggressive interactions with as little physical fighting as possible, balancing the potential value of the resources gained against the cost of suffering injury or death (Holekamp & Strauss, 2016;Maynard Smith & Harper, 1988;van Staaden et al., 2011). Aggressive behavior, through either physical or non-physical acts, is used to resolve conflicts related to access to resources such as food, shelter, territory, and mates. Extraordinary diversity exists in how different species express aggression. For example, body size is a reliable predictor of contest intensity in fish relying on visual displays (Moretz, 2003;Reddon et al., 2011), whereas in frogs, in which displays are primarily auditory, body size is generally unrelated to the duration or escalation of aggressive interactions (Owen & Gordon, 2005; Reichert & Gerhardt, 2011). Even members of the same species alter

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“…To assess behavior as a function of SL, we conducted resident-intruder assays. We took several steps to control for social experience and age of both the resident and intruder, since these factors have been found to influence behavior in A. burtoni (Alcazar et al, 2014;Solomon-Lane & Hofmann, 2019). In these assays, the resident had a dominant social status and an established territory, while the intruder had a non-dominant social status.…”

Section: General Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

A behavioral logic underlying aggression in an African cichlid fish

Alward

Cathers

Blakkan

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Social rank in a hierarchy determines which individuals have access to important resources such as food, shelter, and mates. In the African cichlid fish Astatotilapia burtoni, rank is under social control, such that larger males are more likely than smaller males to be dominant in rank. Although it is well known that the relative size of A. burtoni males is critical in controlling social rank, the specific behavioral strategies underlying responses to males of different sizes are not well understood. In this research, our goal was to characterize these responses by performing resident-intruder assays, in which aggressive behaviors were measured in territorial males in response to the introduction of unfamiliar males that differed in relative standard length (SL). We found that the relative SL of intruders played an important role in determining behavioral performance. Resident males exposed to larger (>5% larger in SL) or matched (between 0 and 5% larger or smaller in SL) intruder males performed more lateral displays, a type of non-physical aggression, compared to resident males exposed to smaller (>5% smaller in SL) intruder males. However, physical aggression, such as chases and bites, did not differ as a function of relative SL. Our results suggest that A. burtoni males amplify non-physical aggression to settle territorial disputes in response to differences in relative SL that were not previously considered to be behaviorally relevant.HighlightsRelative size determines social rank in the African cichlid Astatotilapia burtoniResident male A. burtoni respond differently to small size differences in intruder malesResidents perform more non-physical aggression against larger intrudersResidents do not alter physical aggression as a function of differently sized intrudersDistinct behavioral strategies are used against different intruders

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Early-life social environment alters juvenile behavior and neuroendocrine function in a highly social cichlid fish

Cited by 26 publications

References 128 publications

Failure to mate enhances investment in behaviors that may promote mating reward and impairs the ability to cope with stressors via a subpopulation of Neuropeptide F receptor neurons

Failure to mate enhances investment in behaviors that may promote mating reward and impairs the ability to cope with stressors via a subpopulation of Neuropeptide F receptor neurons

A behavioral logic underlying aggression in an African cichlid fish

A behavioral logic underlying aggression in an African cichlid fish

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