Sex matters: a social context to boldness in guppies (Poecilia reticulata)

Piyapong, Chantima; Krause, Jens; Chapman, Ben B.; Ramnarine, Indar W.; Louca, Vasilis; Croft, Darren P.

doi:10.1093/beheco/arp142

Cited by 83 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Alternatively, brain size may have decreased in the maleonly environment due to a trade-off between energetic investment into neural development and male-male competition. Previous studies have demonstrated that male guppies tend to be bolder and more active in the company of other males than they are in the company of females (Griffiths 1996;Piyapong et al 2010). Moreover, sperm production is generally highest in male-only groups (Evans and Magurran 1999).…”

Section: Intrinsic Sex Differences In Brain Morphologymentioning

confidence: 92%

“…For the separate brain structures, we detected sexual dimorphism in both the olfactory bulbs and the cerebellum, which were larger in females (controlled for body size 2 and 14 %, respectively). Female guppies are generally much more active than males in terms of foraging activity, partially to compensate for costs associated with male harassment through increased foraging (Magurran and Seghers 1994;Croft et al 2006;Piyapong et al 2010). Females are also more innovative in a feeding situation, better at locating food and respond quicker to novel food sources (Laland and Reader 1999b;Laland and Reader 1999a).…”

Section: Intrinsic Sex Differences In Brain Morphologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We attribute the smaller body size in females from same-sex groups to increased feeding competition among females. Opposite to males, female guppies are known to compete for and monopolise food (Griffiths 1996;Piyapong et al 2010). Hence, more intense competition over food in the female-only pairs may have resulted in hampered growth.…”

Section: Intrinsic Sex Differences In Brain Morphologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here, we use the guppy (Poecilia reticulata) as a model to investigate how the brain size and structure are affected by the social environment in both sexes. There are established differences in behaviour between the sexes, as females are generally more risk-sensitive (Piyapong et al 2010) and males are among the most sexually ardent in the animal kingdom (Magurran 2005). Sexual harassment by males is common and has been shown to impose significant costs on females (Magurran and Seghers 1994) and even their offspring (Gasparini et al 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sex-specific plasticity in brain morphology depends on social environment of the guppy, Poecilia reticulata

Kotrschal

Rogell

Maklakov

et al. 2012

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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The vertebrate brain is a remarkably plastic organ, which responds quickly to environmental changes. However, to date, studies investigating plasticity in brain morphology have focused mostly on the physical properties of the surrounding environment, and little is known about brain plasticity in response to the social environment. Moreover, sex differences in brain plasticity remain virtually unexplored. Here, we tested how the social environment influenced brain morphology in adult males and females using experimental manipulation of the sex composition of social pairs (same sex vs. mixed sex) in the guppy (Poecilia reticulata). We detected substantial sex-specific plasticity in both the overall brain size (controlling for body size) and separate brain structures. The brain size was larger in males that interacted with females, and female optic tectum was larger in female-only groups. Overall, females had larger olfactory bulbs and cerebellum in comparison to males. While net sexual dimorphism in the brain structure can be explained in light of the known differences in boldness and foraging behaviour between the sexes, our results also support that cognitive demands associated with courtship behaviour can lead to plastic changes in the brain size. Our findings demonstrate that not only social environment can generate rapid, plastic responses in the vertebrate brain but also that such responses can depend strongly on sex.

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Section: Intrinsic Sex Differences In Brain Morphologymentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Intrinsic Sex Differences In Brain Morphologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Intrinsic Sex Differences In Brain Morphologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Sex-specific plasticity in brain morphology depends on social environment of the guppy, Poecilia reticulata

Kotrschal

Rogell

Maklakov

et al. 2012

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, while sex differences in learning have been well documented in some taxa [3], they have been completely neglected in others, such as lizards (and reptiles at large). Even less information is available about sex differences in personality traits, which have been documented in only a handful of fish and bird species [26][27][28][29]. Finally, scarcely any attention at all has been paid to studying sexual differences in the existence and form of cognitive-behavioural types [24,30], despite the fact that there are sound theoretical reasons to expect them.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex and boldness explain individual differences in spatial learning in a lizard

et al. 2014

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Understanding individual differences in cognitive performance is a major challenge to animal behaviour and cognition studies. We used the Eastern water skink (Eulamprus quoyii) to examine associations between exploration, boldness and individual variability in spatial learning, a dimension of lizard cognition with important bearing on fitness. We show that males perform better than females in a biologically relevant spatial learning task. This is the first evidence for sex differences in learning in a reptile, and we argue that it is probably owing to sex-specific selective pressures that may be widespread in lizards. Across the sexes, we found a clear association between boldness after a simulated predatory attack and the probability of learning the spatial task. In contrast to previous studies, we found a nonlinear association between boldness and learning: both 'bold' and 'shy' behavioural types were more successful learners than intermediate males. Our results do not fit with recent predictions suggesting that individual differences in learning may be linked with behavioural types via high -low-risk/reward trade-offs. We suggest the possibility that differences in spatial cognitive performance may arise in lizards as a consequence of the distinct environmental variability and complexity experienced by individuals as a result of their sex and social tactics.

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Personality Traits and Behaviour

Budaev¹,

Brown²

2011

Fish Cognition and Behavior

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Reebs 2006), which has for a long time been considered the most homogeneous social structure in fishes (Radakov 1972). Even the classical example of many ethological textbooks, the stereotypic response of male three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) to the red belly of an opponent is very pronounced in some individuals but absent in others: it is so variable that the classical concept of innate releasing mechanisms (sign stimuli) can be questioned (Rowland 1982;Baerends 1985;Bolyard & Rowland 1996).Niko Tinbergen, in his classical work 'On the aims and methods of ethology' (Tinbergen 1963), outlined four questions that are fundamental for our understanding of any behaviour:(1) Causation: What is the cause of the behaviour in question?(2) Function: What is its survival value? (3) Ontogeny: How does it develop? (4) Evolution: How did it evolve?

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Sex matters: a social context to boldness in guppies (Poecilia reticulata)

Cited by 83 publications

References 40 publications

Sex-specific plasticity in brain morphology depends on social environment of the guppy, Poecilia reticulata

Sex-specific plasticity in brain morphology depends on social environment of the guppy, Poecilia reticulata

Sex and boldness explain individual differences in spatial learning in a lizard

Personality Traits and Behaviour

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