Social cichlid fish change behaviour in response to a visual predator stimulus, but not the odour of damaged conspecifics

O’Connor, Constance M.; Reddon, Adam R.; Odetunde, Aderinsola; Jindal, Shagun; Balshine, Sigal

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2015.10.002

Cited by 19 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…As a predator, we used the African obscure snakehead, Parachanna obscura, a carnivorous fish predator that occurs sympatrically with natural populations of P. pulcher. Fishes commonly respond to predators with anti-predator behaviours such as reduced activity (McLean & Godin, 1989;O'Connor, Reddon, Odetunde, Jindal, & Balshine, 2015), increased distance to the predator (Broom & Ruxton, 2005;Cooper & Martín, 2016) and escape behaviour (Lima & Dill, 1990). They may also cautiously approach or "inspect" a potential predator at a distance (Dugatkin et al, 2005;Godin & Dugatkin, 1996;Pitcher, Green, & Magurran, 1986), which is a risky behaviour (Dugatkin & Godin, 1992), so as to gather information on and assess the actual threat (Hesse et al, 2015;Magurran & Higham, 1988) and even to deter attack in some cases (Godin & Davis, 1995).…”

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confidence: 99%

Validation of 2D‐animated pictures as an investigative tool in the behavioural sciences: A case study with a West African cichlid fish,Pelvicachromis pulcher

Scherer¹,

Godin

Schuett³

2017

Ethology

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Virtual stimuli represent an increasingly popular tool in the study of animal behaviour. Modern techniques have the potential to simplify and improve traditional experiments using live stimuli. However, the increasing availability of diverse techniques is associated with problems and limitations. Although many new methods have been developed, their validation remains largely untested. In the present study, we therefore performed two experiments to test whether 2‐D animations of predators and conspecifics elicit biologically appropriate behavioural responses in male rainbow kribs, Pelvicachromis pulcher. Individual responses towards a sympatric natural fish predator, Parachanna obscura, were tested using live predators and still colour photographs, animated using PowerPoint©. Compared to control trials (empty aquarium and white computer screen, respectively), individuals decreased their activity in response to both live and animated predators. We found no difference in activity between live and animation trials. Further, we tested individual aggression (frequency of aggressive behaviours) exhibited towards live and animated conspecifics. Individual aggressive behaviours shown towards live and animated conspecifics were positively correlated. Moreover, an individual's mean distance towards the opponent was a suitable proxy for individual aggression permitting the facilitation and standardisation of an individual's aggression through the use of a tracking software compared with the more laborious, traditional manual assessment. Our results show that simple, inexpensive animation techniques have the potential to provide an easy‐to‐apply and useful technological advance in animal behaviour research.

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Validation of 2D‐animated pictures as an investigative tool in the behavioural sciences: A case study with a West African cichlid fish,Pelvicachromis pulcher

Scherer¹,

Godin

Schuett³

2017

Ethology

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“…O'Connor, Reddon, Odetunde, and Jindal (2015) did not detect differences in antipredator behavior in lab-reared N. pulcher when exposed to visual cues alone versus visual and chemical cues together. In our experiment, stimulus fish were also limited in their ability to behave as they otherwise might (e.g., avoid an agoniztic encounter).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 76%

“…However, focal fish were not exposed to olfactory cues associated with the stimulus fish, which may be important for identifying predators (Manassa & McCormick, ). O'Connor, Reddon, Odetunde, and Jindal () did not detect differences in antipredator behavior in lab‐reared N. pulcher when exposed to visual cues alone versus visual and chemical cues together. In our experiment, stimulus fish were also limited in their ability to behave as they otherwise might (e.g., avoid an agoniztic encounter).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

How individual and relative size affect participation in territorial defense and cortisol levels in a social fish

2019

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For many species, behaviors such as territory defense and parental care are energetically costly, but are nonetheless can provide substantial fitness gains. In systems in which both parents provide parental care, each of the parents benefits from exhibiting (or having their partner exhibit) these behaviors. However, in many cases, costs and benefits differ between parents due to factors such as size or sex. Different intruder types may also impose different costs on parents. Predatory intruders might consume offspring, whereas conspecifics might threaten the social status of a parent, or provide benefits as a potential group joiner or mate. Responses to these intrusions may also be associated with variation in individual stress responses. We investigated associations among male and female sizes, and the interaction between these, with defense against conspecific and heterospecific territorial intruders by members of successfully breeding pairs in the cichlid fish Neolamprologus pulcher. We also investigated whether cortisol levels were associated with size or participation in territory defense because each may be a cause or consequence of individual variation in the stress response. We found that females paired with large males performed fewer defensive behaviors than females paired with smaller males. Males paired with relatively large females had higher baseline cortisol levels than those paired with smaller females. Collectively, individual characteristics such as size have consequences for each individual's behavior, and also influence the behavior, and endocrine state of social partners.

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“…Similarly, the use of visual proxies in aquatic systems is also well-established (e.g. Johnson & Basolo, 2003;Gerlai, 2013;Fischer et al, 2014;O'Connor et al, 2015;Dieng et al, 2017). While most studies report a successful use of proxies in inducing predicted anti-predator response, none have compared their effectiveness to live predator presentations.…”

Section: Manuscript To Be Reviewedmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Predator recognition in N. pulcher seems to be innate, as both these studies observed antipredator response by naïve individuals. One study showed an unexpected reduction in response towards visual predator cues in the presence of conspecific skin extract on the anti-predator response of N. pulcher (O'Connor et al, 2015). It is, however, unknown if and how a combination PeerJ reviewing PDF | (2019:07:39463:1:1:NEW 9 Oct 2019)…”

Section: Manuscript To Be Reviewedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peer Review #2 of "Simulating more realistic predation threat using attack playbacks (v0.2)"

2019

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Use of virtual proxies of live animals are rapidly gaining ground in studies of animal behaviour. Such proxies help to reduce the number of live experimental animals needed to stimulate the behaviour of experimental individuals and to increase standardisation. However, using too simplistic proxies may fail to induce a desired effect and/or lead to quick habituation. For instance, in a predation context, prey often employ multimodal cues to detect predators or use specific aspects of predator behaviour to assess threat. In a live interaction, predator and prey often show behaviours directed towards each other, which are absent in virtual proxies. Here we compared the effectiveness of chemical and visual predator cues in the cooperatively breeding cichlid Neolamprologus pulcher, a species in which predation pressure has been the evolutionary driver of its sociality. We created playbacks of predators simulating an attack and tested their effectiveness in comparison to a playback showing regular activity and to a live predator. We further compared the effectiveness of predator odour and conspecific skin extracts on behaviours directed towards a predator playback. Regular playbacks of calmly swimming predators were less effective than live predators in stimulating a focal individual's aggression and attention. However, playbacks mimicking an attacking predator induced responses much like a live predator. Chemical cues did not affect predator directed behaviour.

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Social cichlid fish change behaviour in response to a visual predator stimulus, but not the odour of damaged conspecifics

Cited by 19 publications

References 58 publications

Validation of 2D‐animated pictures as an investigative tool in the behavioural sciences: A case study with a West African cichlid fish,Pelvicachromis pulcher

Validation of 2D‐animated pictures as an investigative tool in the behavioural sciences: A case study with a West African cichlid fish,Pelvicachromis pulcher

How individual and relative size affect participation in territorial defense and cortisol levels in a social fish

Peer Review #2 of "Simulating more realistic predation threat using attack playbacks (v0.2)"

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