scholarly journals Social partner cooperativeness influences brain oxytocin transcription in Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata)

2021 ◽  
pp. 113643
Author(s):  
Sylvia Dimitriadou ◽  
Eduarda M. Santos ◽  
Darren P. Croft ◽  
Ronny van Aerle ◽  
Indar W. Ramnarine ◽  
...  
2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1934) ◽  
pp. 20200487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Safi K. Darden ◽  
Richard James ◽  
James M. Cave ◽  
Josefine Bohr Brask ◽  
Darren P. Croft

Cooperation among non-kin is well documented in humans and widespread in non-human animals, but explaining the occurrence of cooperation in the absence of inclusive fitness benefits has proven a significant challenge. Current theoretical explanations converge on a single point: cooperators can prevail when they cluster in social space. However, we know very little about the real-world mechanisms that drive such clustering, particularly in systems where cognitive limitations make it unlikely that mechanisms such as score keeping and reputation are at play. Here, we show that Trinidadian guppies ( Poecilia reticulata ) use a ‘walk away’ strategy, a simple social heuristic by which assortment by cooperativeness can come about among mobile agents. Guppies cooperate during predator inspection and we found that when experiencing defection in this context, individuals prefer to move to a new social environment, despite having no prior information about this new social group. Our results provide evidence in non-human animals that individuals use a simple social partner updating strategy in response to defection, supporting theoretical work applying heuristics to understanding the proximate mechanisms underpinning the evolution of cooperation among non-kin.


Behaviour ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 157 (10-11) ◽  
pp. 923-947
Author(s):  
Heather L. Auld ◽  
Jean-Guy J. Godin

Abstract Although male courtship displays have evolved primarily to sexually attract females, they also generate inadvertent public information that potentially reveals the courter’s relative sexual attractiveness and the perceived quality and sexual receptivity of the female being courted to nearby eavesdropping male competitors, who in turn may use this information to bias their social partner choices. We tested this hypothesis by first presenting individual eavesdropping male guppies (Poecilia reticulata) the opportunity to simultaneously observe two demonstrator males whose courtship behaviour was manipulated experimentally to differ, following which we tested them for their preference to associate socially with either demonstrator males. Test males preferentially associated with the demonstrator male who they had previously observed courting a female over the other (non-courting) demonstrator. This social association preference was not expressed in the absence of a female to court. Our findings highlight the potential for sexual behaviour influencing male-male social associations in nature.


Author(s):  
Juliane Lukas ◽  
Gregor Kalinkat ◽  
Friedrich Wilhelm Miesen ◽  
Tim Landgraf ◽  
Jens Krause ◽  
...  

AbstractUnderstanding the linkage between behavioral types and dispersal tendency has become a pressing issue in light of global change and biological invasions. Here, we explore whether dispersing individuals exhibit behavioral types that differ from those remaining in the source population. We investigated a feral population of guppies (Poecilia reticulata) that undergoes a yearly range shift cycle. Guppies are among the most widespread invasive species in the world, but in temperate regions these tropical fish can only survive in winter-warm freshwaters. Established in a thermally-altered stream in Germany, guppies are confined to a warm-water influx in winter, but can spread to peripheral parts as these become thermally accessible. We sampled fish from the source population and a winter-abandoned site in March, June and August. Fish were tested for boldness, sociability and activity involving open-field tests including interactions with a robotic social partner. Guppies differed consistently among each other in all three traits. Behavioral trait expression in the source population differed across seasons, however, we could not detect differences between source and downstream populations. Instead, all sampled populations exhibited a remarkably stable behavioral syndrome between boldness and activity despite strong seasonal changes in water temperature and associated environmental factors. We conclude that random drift (opposed to personality-biased dispersal) is a more likely dispersal mode for guppies, at least in the investigated stream. In the face of fluctuating environments, guppies seem to be extremely effective in keeping behavioral expressions constant, which could help explain their successful invasion and adaptation to disturbed habitats.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvia Dimitriadou ◽  
Eduarda M. Santos ◽  
Darren P. Croft ◽  
Ronny van Aerle ◽  
Indar W. Ramnarine ◽  
...  

AbstractFor non-kin cooperation to be maintained, individuals need to respond adaptively to the cooperative behaviour of their social partners. Currently, however, little is known about the biological responses of individuals to experiencing cooperation. Here, we quantify the neuroregulatory response of Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata) experiencing cooperation or defection by examining the transcriptional response of the oxytocin gene (oxt; also known as isotocin), which has been implicated in cooperative decision-making. We exposed wild-caught females to social environments where partners either cooperated or defected during predator inspection, or to a control (non-predator inspection) context, and quantified the relative transcription of the oxt gene. We tested an experimental group, originating from a site where individuals are under high predation threat and have previous experience of large aquatic predators (HP), and a control group, where individuals are under low predation threat and naïve to large aquatic predators (LP). In HP, but not LP, fish brain mid-section oxt relative transcription varied depending on social partner behaviour. HP fish experiencing cooperation during predator inspection had lower oxt transcription than those experiencing defection. This effect was not present in the control population or in the control context, where the behaviour of social partners did not affect oxt transcription. Our findings provide insight into the neuromodulation underpinning behavioural responses to social experiences, and ultimately to the proximate mechanisms underlying social decision-making.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliane Lukas ◽  
Gregor Kalinkat ◽  
Friedrich Wilhelm Miesen ◽  
Tim Landgraf ◽  
Jens Krause ◽  
...  

Understanding the linkage between behavioral types and dispersal tendency has become a pressing issue in light of global change and biological invasions. Here, we explore whether dispersing individuals exhibit behavioral types that differ from those remaining in the source population. We investigated a feral population of guppies (Poecilia reticulata) that undergoes a yearly range shift cycle. Guppies are among the most widespread invasive species in the world, but in temperate regions these tropical fish can only survive in winter-warm freshwaters. Established in a thermally-altered stream in Germany, guppies are confined to a warm-water influx in winter, but can spread to peripheral parts as these become thermally accessible. We sampled fish from the source population and a winter-abandoned site in March, June and August. Fish were tested for boldness, sociability and activity involving open-field tests including interactions with a robotic social partner. Guppies differed consistently among each other in all three traits within each sample. Average trait expression in the source population differed across seasons, however, we could not detect differences between source and downstream population. Instead, all populations exhibited a remarkably stable behavioral syndrome between boldness and activity despite strong seasonal changes in water temperature and associated environmental factors. We conclude that random drift (opposed to personality-biased dispersal) is a more likely dispersal mode for guppies, at least in the investigated stream. In the face of fluctuating environments, guppies seem to be extremely effective in keeping behavioral expressions constant, which could help explain their successful invasion and adaptation to new and disturbed habitats.


2003 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
William E. Hawkins ◽  
William W. Walker ◽  
John W. Fournie ◽  
C. Steve Manning ◽  
Rena M. Krol

2018 ◽  
Vol 132 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Elena Miletto Petrazzini ◽  
Audrey E. Parrish ◽  
Michael J. Beran ◽  
Christian Agrillo
Keyword(s):  

2001 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wade Jacoby ◽  
Martin Behrens

Our purpose in this article is to analyze changes in the German wagebargaining system, a system that has attracted enormous attentionfrom scholars of comparative political economy and comparativeindustrial relations. We argue that the wage bargaining portion ofthe German model is neither frozen in place, headed for deregulation,nor merely “muddling through.” Rather, we see the institutionalcapacities of the key actors—especially the unions and employerassociations—making possible a process we term “experimentalism.”In briefest form, experimentalism allows organizations that combinedecentralized information-gathering abilities with centralized decision-making capacity to probe for new possibilities, which, oncefound, can be quickly diffused throughout the organization. We willshow that the capacity for such experimentalism varies across actorsand sectors. And, to make things even tougher, neither major Germansocial actor can sustain innovation in the longer term withoutbringing along the other “social partner.”


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