The Jamming Avoidance Response of High Frequency Electric Fish

Bullock, Theodore H.; Hamstra, Robert H.; Scheich, Henning

doi:10.1007/978-1-4684-9427-3_42

Cited by 57 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…The computational features include detection of amplitude modulations, detection of phase modulations by differential phase comparison, evaluation of the temporal pattern of the amplitude and phase modulation and a removal of orientation ambiguity by spatial integration of sensory information. These features are identical to those employed by the only very remotely related gymnotiform electric fish Eigenmannia which performs almost identical JARs (Watanabe and Takeda 1963;Bullock et al 1972aBullock et al ,b, 1975Heiligenberg 1991;Heiligenberg et al 1978a,b;Heiligenberg and Bastian 1980;Bastian and Heiligenberg 1980;Carr et al 1986a, b;Heiligenberg 1985b, 1986a,b;Rose 1985, 1986;Keller 1988;Rose et al 1988). The great similarity of the rather complex computational algorithm for the JAR is remarkable since Gymnarchus and Eigenmannia lack common electroreceptive/electrogenic ancestors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 48%

The African wave-type electric fish, Gymnarchus niloticus, lacks corollary discharge mechanisms for electrosensory gating

Kawasaki

1994

J Comp Physiol A

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Gymnarchus niloticus, a wave-type African electric fish, performs its jamming avoidance response by relying solely upon afferent signals and does not use corollary discharges from the pacemaker nucleus in the medulla which generates the rhythmicity of electric organ discharges. This is in sharp contrast to the mode of sensory processing found in closely related African pulse-type electric fishes where afferent signals are gated by corollary discharges from the pacemaker for the distinction of exafferent and reafferent stimuli. Does Gymnarchus still possess a corollary discharge mechanism for other behavioral tasks but does not use it for the jamming avoidance response? In this study, I recorded from and labeled medullary neuronal structures that either generate or convey the pacemaker signal for electric organ discharges to examine whether this information is also sent directly to any sensory areas. The pacemaker nucleus was identified as the site of generation of the pacemaking signal. The pacemaker neurons project exclusively to the lateral relay nucleus which, in turn projects exclusively to the medial relay nucleus. Neurons in the medial relay nucleus send unbranched axons to the spinal electromotoneurons. These neurons are entirely devoted to drive the electric organ discharges, and no axon collaterals from these neurons were found to project to any sensory areas. This indicates that Gymnarchus does not possess the neuronal hardware for a corollary discharge mechanism.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 48%

The African wave-type electric fish, Gymnarchus niloticus, lacks corollary discharge mechanisms for electrosensory gating

Kawasaki

1994

J Comp Physiol A

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“…Animals were stimulated with sinusoidal electrical signals mimicking conspecifics with a range of EOD frequencies. All animals performed a two-sided JAR in which they increased their EOD frequency upon negative difference frequencies and vice versa as described in the literature (Watanabe and Takeda 1963;Bullock et al 1972;Heiligenberg 1980Heiligenberg , 1991, indicating that they responded to stimulation as they would do to conspecifics. All tested animals showed a JAR, but individual differences in the response strength could be observed.…”

Section: Frequency Modulations In Response To Mimicks Of Conspecificsmentioning

confidence: 90%

Encoding of social signals in all three electrosensory pathways ofEigenmannia virescens

Stöckl

Sinz

Benda

et al. 2014

Journal of Neurophysiology

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Extracting complementary features in parallel pathways is a widely used strategy for a robust representation of sensory signals. Weakly electric fish offer the rare opportunity to study complementary encoding of social signals in all of its electrosensory pathways. Electrosensory information is conveyed in three parallel pathways: two receptor types of the tuberous (active) system and one receptor type of the ampullary (passive) system. Modulations of the fish's own electric field are sensed by these receptors and used in navigation, prey detection, and communication. We studied the neuronal representation of electric communication signals (called chirps) in the ampullary and the two tuberous pathways of Eigenmannia virescens. We first characterized different kinds of chirps observed in behavioral experiments. Since Eigenmannia chirps simultaneously drive all three types of receptors, we studied their responses in in vivo electrophysiological recordings. Our results demonstrate that different electroreceptor types encode different aspects of the stimuli and each appears best suited to convey information about a certain chirp type. A decoding analysis of single neurons and small populations shows that this specialization leads to a complementary representation of information in the tuberous and ampullary receptors. This suggests that a potential readout mechanism should combine information provided by the parallel processing streams to improve chirp detectability.

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“…The changes observed can therefore be distinguished from a pure adjustment to clutter and interpreted as a jamming avoidance response (JAR). The bats do not use exclusive frequency bands as seen in the JAR of electric fish (Bullock et al 1972;McGregor and Westby 1992) or assumed in Rhinopoma hardwickei (Habersetzter 1981). They rather appear to use distinct sonagram shapes and/or separate calls temporally by vocalizing asynchronously with conspecifics, thereby also addressing the problem of masking (Kalko and Schnitzler 1993).…”

Section: Effects Of Variabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Flexible bat echolocation: the influence of individual, habitat and conspecifics on sonar signal design

Obrist¹

1995

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

258

129

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Acoustic signals which are used in animal communication must carry a variety of information and are therefore highly flexible. Echolocation has probably evolved from acoustic communication, still serves such functions and could prove as flexible. Measurable variability can indicate flexibility in a behaviour. To quantify variability in bat sonar and relate it to behavioural and environmental factors, I recorded echolocation calls of Euderma maculatum, Eptesicus fuscus, Lasiurus borealis and L. cinereus while the bats hunted in their natural habitat. I analysed 3390 search phase calls emitted by 16 known and 16 unknown individuals foraging in different environmental and behavioural situations. All four species used mainly multiharmonic signals that showed considerable intra-and inter-individual variability in the five signal variables I analysed (call duration, call interval, highest and lowest frequency and frequency with maximum energy) and also in the shape of the sonagram. A nested multivariate analysis of variance identified the influences of individual, hunting site, close conspecifics and of each observation on the frequency with maximum energy in the calls, and on other variables measured. Individual bats differed in multiple comparisons, most often in the main call frequency and least often in call interval. In a discriminant function analysis with resubstitution, 56-76% of a species' calls were assigned to the correct individual. Distinct individual call patterns were recorded in special situations in all species and the size of foraging areas in forested areas influenced temporal and spectral call structure. Echolocation behaviour was influenced by the presence of conspecifics. When bats were hunting together, call duration decreased and call interval increased in all species, but spectral effects were less pronounced. The role of morphometric differences as the source of individually distinct vocalizations is discussed. I also examined signal adaptations to long range echolocation and the influence of obstacle distance on echolocation call design. My results allow to discuss the problems of echo recognition and jamming avoidance in vespertilionid bats.

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The Jamming Avoidance Response of High Frequency Electric Fish

Cited by 57 publications

References 31 publications

The African wave-type electric fish, Gymnarchus niloticus, lacks corollary discharge mechanisms for electrosensory gating

The African wave-type electric fish, Gymnarchus niloticus, lacks corollary discharge mechanisms for electrosensory gating

Encoding of social signals in all three electrosensory pathways ofEigenmannia virescens

Flexible bat echolocation: the influence of individual, habitat and conspecifics on sonar signal design

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