Retention and Recovery of Habituated Territorial Aggressive Behavior in the Three-Spined Stickleback (Gasterosteus Aculeat Us L.) : the Roles of Time and Nest Reconstruction

Behaviour ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 69 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 171-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy Blankenship ◽  
Harman V.S. Peeke ◽  
Michael H. Figler

AbstractFactors involved in the recovery and reinstatement of a territorial resident's aggression directed at an intruder after habituation were studied in the Three-spined Stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). In the first experiment it was demonstrated that following initial habituation to the intruder, there was no recovery of response after 3-5 days, but there was virtually complete recovery after 14 days. It was further shown that if the stickleback's nest is removed and he rebuilds the nest between the first habituation session and the test, there is complete recovery following nest reconstruction. A second series of experiments shows that the recovery following nest removal and reconstruction is prevented if the fish is prevented from reconstructing the nest. It was further found in two additional sub-experiments that allowing post-habituation nest reconstruction appeared to re-set memory for the habituated stimulus such that the intruding stimulus fish appears novel to the territorial resident, thus abolishing the stimulus specific nature of such habituation.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vinicius Elias de Moura Oliveira ◽  
Trynke R de Jong ◽  
Inga Neumann

Sexual assault and rape are crimes that impact victims worldwide. Although the psychosocial and eco-evolutionary factors associated with this antisocial behavior have repeatedly been studied, the underlying neurobiological mechanisms are still unknown mainly due to the lack of an appropriate animal model of sexual aggression (SxA). Here, we established a novel paradigm to provoke and subsequently assess SxA in adult male Wistar rats: the sexual aggression test (SxAT). Briefly, male Wistar rats are sexually aroused by a receptive female, which is exchanged by a non-receptive female immediately after the first intromission. This protocol elicits forced mounting (FM) and aggressive behavior (AB) towards the non-receptive female to different degrees, which can be scored. In a series of experiments we can show that SxA behavior is a relatively stable trait in rats and correlates positively with sexual motivation. Rats with innate abnormal anxiety and aggressive behavior also show abnormal SxA behavior. In addition, central infusion of oxytocin moderately inhibits AB, but increases FM. Finally, we identified the agranular insular cortex to be specifically activated by SxA, and inhibition of this region mildly decreased AB during the SxAT. Altogether, the SxAT is a paradigm that can be readily implemented in behavioral laboratories as a valuable tool to find answers regarding the biological mechanisms underlying SxA in humans, as well as social decision-making in general.


1992 ◽  
Vol 70 (5) ◽  
pp. 1052-1056 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory T. Ruggerone

Coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) frequently consume sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) fry in Chignik Lake, Alaska, but have never been observed to consume threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus), which are often closely associated with sockeye fry. Because coho salmon are visual predators and appear to avoid sticklebacks, a series of experiments was conducted in net pens to determine whether juvenile sockeye associated with threespine sticklebacks experienced less prédation than sockeye without sticklebacks and whether prey size affected prédation rates. Significantly fewer sockeye fry by coho were consumed in the pen containing 60 sticklebacks [Formula: see text] than in the 30-stickleback (4.7 fry/day) and 0-stickleback (4.4 fry/day) pens. An identical experiment with large, yearling sockeye (rather than sticklebacks) did not reveal a significant effect (p = 0.28), although there was a tendency for fewer large fry to be consumed when yearlings were abundant. A third experiment demonstrated predation rates on fry that were 45% lower in the presence of sticklebacks (1.2 fry/day) than in the presence of yearling sockeye (2.2 fry/day). Large sockeye fry (37–44 mm) consumed by coho declined steadily from about 36 to 29 to 22% of the total number of fry eaten as the number of sticklebacks or yearling sockeye increased from 0 to 30 to 60, respectively. These data suggest that the presence of threespine sticklebacks may reduce predation by coho on juvenile sockeye, especially those sockeye similar in size to sticklebacks.


1984 ◽  
Vol 62 (6) ◽  
pp. 999-1004 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Rowland

A method was devised, using several independent judges, to estimate the degree of nuptial coloration of male three-spined sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus. Using the color-state scores that resulted from this technique, territorial males were compared with respect to their coloration level and with respect to their responsiveness to live and dummy stimulus fish. These comparisons reveal a positive association between color state and responsiveness: brightly colored males tend to court (zigzag) and attack (bite) stimulus fish more vigorously than duller colored males do. Therefore, the degree to which a male three-spined stickleback's nuptial coloration is developed can be used to some extent to predict its responsiveness, with the particular category of response (courtship or aggression) dependent on the stimulus presented. A close association between zigzag and bite frequencies was also found, responsive males showing higher levels of both courtship and aggression than less responsive ones. These results are consistent with evidence pertaining to the hormonal control of nuptial coloration, courtship, and aggression and to the signal value of nuptial coloration in G. aculeatus.


Behaviour ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 137 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 933-945 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Jenkins ◽  
William Rowland

AbstractMale threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, from a marine population on Long Island, New York were presented simultaneously with two dummies, one simulating a normally distended ('thinner') gravid female and the other a highly distended ('fatter') one. Males initially courted the dummies much as they do real females, but showed stimulus-specific and response-specific habituation to the dummies. Males initially courted the fatter dummy slightly more than the thinner one but showed clear signs of habituation toward the thinner dummy after about 4 min while courtship to the fatter one continued throughout the 1 hr presentation period. Thus, within 12 min males were directing a much greater proportion of courtship to the fatter dummy, and this difference increased over time. Males also attacked both dummies and, in contrast to their courtship response, divided biting equally between the two dummies. Moreover, bite rates to the thinner and the fatter dummy doubled within the first 12 min and then fluctuated around that level for the remainder of the trial. The stimulusspecific and response-specific nature of habituation may be adaptive for male mating success because it leads the male to focus courtship on the preferred female and to direct attack against the fish presenting a greater threat to the nest but a lower potential reproductive payoff.


1987 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 451-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilbert Belanger ◽  
Helga Guderley ◽  
Gérard J. FitzGerald

Individual male sticklebacks established nests, courted females, and cared for their fertilized eggs at 0 or 20‰ salinity. The time to hatching was shorter at 0 than at 20‰. One-week-old fry that hatched in freshwater had a significantly lower mortality after 96 h in freshwater than fry that hatched in brackish water. Fry that hatched at 20‰ grew little in freshwater and had their highest growth rates at 28‰, while fry that hatched at 0‰ showed little variation in growth rates at intermediate salinities and had reduced growth at 28‰. The mean duration of fanning bouts and the total duration of fanning was significantly greater at 0 than at 20‰, particularly toward the end of the incubation period, but the aggressive behavior did not differ between the two hatching salinities.


Behaviour ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 109 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 46-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.A. Ibrahim ◽  
F.A. Huntingford

AbstractThis article describes a series of experiments carried out in both field and laboratory on the effects of predators on foraging in threespined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus). In a field experiment on habitat use, predation risk did not cause the fish to abandon their preference for vegetated habitat, but led them to increase the use of the lake bed. However, in the presence of a predator, the fish still fed mainly on zooplankton rather than on benthos. In a field experiment on diet choice, predation risk suppressed the amount of food eaten and caused a shift to different prey species and smaller prey. In a laboratory experiment, predation risk slowed the response to the food and caused the fish to cease discrimination in favour of the more profitable food items. The number of feeding attempts was not affected, which could mean that the fish were compensating for their slow start by a higher subsequent rate of bites once feeding began. Thus, predation risk affected the foraging behaviour in such a way that energetic intake was reduced in the interest of predator avoidance.


Author(s):  
G. Cliff ◽  
M.J. Nasir ◽  
G.W. Lorimer ◽  
N. Ridley

In a specimen which is transmission thin to 100 kV electrons - a sample in which X-ray absorption is so insignificant that it can be neglected and where fluorescence effects can generally be ignored (1,2) - a ratio of characteristic X-ray intensities, I1/I2 can be converted into a weight fraction ratio, C1/C2, using the equationwhere k12 is, at a given voltage, a constant independent of composition or thickness, k12 values can be determined experimentally from thin standards (3) or calculated (4,6). Both experimental and calculated k12 values have been obtained for K(11<Z>19),kα(Z>19) and some Lα radiation (3,6) at 100 kV. The object of the present series of experiments was to experimentally determine k12 values at voltages between 200 and 1000 kV and to compare these with calculated values.The experiments were carried out on an AEI-EM7 HVEM fitted with an energy dispersive X-ray detector.


Author(s):  
Walter J. Sapp ◽  
D.E. Philpott ◽  
C.S. Williams ◽  
K. Kato ◽  
J. Stevenson ◽  
...  

Space flight, with its unique environmental constraints such as immobilization, decreased and increased pressures, and radiation, is known to affect testicular morphology and spermatogenesis. Selye, summarized the manifestations of physiological response to nonspecific stress and he pointed out that atrophy of the gonads always occurred. Reports of data collected from two dogs flown in space for 22 days (Cosmos 110) indicate that there was an increase of 30 to 70% atypical spermatozoa when compared to ground based controls. Seventy-five days after the flight the abnormalities had decreased to the high normal value of 30% and mating of these dogs after this period produced normal offspring, suggesting complete recovery. Effects of immobilization and increased gravity were investigated by spinning rats and mice at 2x g for 8-9 weeks. A decrease in testicular weight was noted in spun animals when compared to controls. Immobilization has been show to cause arrest of spermatogenesis in Macaca meminstrins.


Author(s):  
Vijay Krishnamurthi ◽  
Brent Bailey ◽  
Frederick Lanni

Excitation field synthesis (EFS) refers to the use of an interference optical system in a direct-imaging microscope to improve 3D resolution by axially-selective excitation of fluorescence within a specimen. The excitation field can be thought of as a weighting factor for the point-spread function (PSF) of the microscope, so that the optical transfer function (OTF) gets expanded by convolution with the Fourier transform of the field intensity. The simplest EFS system is the standing-wave fluorescence microscope, in which an axially-periodic excitation field is set up through the specimen by interference of a pair of collimated, coherent, s-polarized beams that enter the specimen from opposite sides at matching angles. In this case, spatial information about the object is recovered in the central OTF passband, plus two symmetric, axially-shifted sidebands. Gaps between these bands represent "lost" information about the 3D structure of the object. Because the sideband shift is equal to the spatial frequency of the standing-wave (SW) field, more complete recovery of information is possible by superposition of fields having different periods. When all of the fields have an antinode at a common plane (set to be coincident with the in-focus plane), the "synthesized" field is peaked in a narrow infocus zone.


Author(s):  
H. Lin ◽  
D. P. Pope

During a study of mechanical properties of recrystallized B-free Ni3Al single crystals, regularly spaced parallel traces within individual grains were discovered on the surfaces of thin recrystallized sheets, see Fig. 1. They appeared to be slip traces, but since we could not find similar observations in the literature, a series of experiments was performed to identify them. We will refer to them “traces”, because they contain some, if not all, of the properties of slip traces. A variety of techniques, including the Electron Backscattering Pattern (EBSP) method, was used to ascertain the composition, geometry, and crystallography of these traces. The effect of sample thickness on their formation was also investigated.In summary, these traces on the surface of recrystallized Ni3Al have the following properties:1.The chemistry and crystallographic orientation of the traces are the same as the bulk. No oxides or other second phases were observed.2.The traces are not grooves caused by thermal etching at previous locations of grain boundaries.3.The traces form after recrystallization (because the starting Ni3Al is a single crystal).4.For thicknesses between 50 μm and 720 μm, the density of the traces increases as the sample thickness decreases. Only one set of “protrusion-like” traces is visible in a given grain on the thicker samples, but multiple sets of “cliff-like” traces are visible on the thinner ones (See Fig. 1 and Fig. 2).5.They are linear and parallel to the traces of {111} planes on the surface, see Fig. 3.6.Some of the traces terminate within the interior of the grains, and the rest of them either terminate at or are continuous across grain boundaries. The portion of latter increases with decreasing thickness.7.The grain size decreases with decreasing thickness, the decrease is more pronounced when the grain size is comparable with the thickness, Fig. 4.8.Traces also formed during the recrystallization of cold-rolled polycrystalline Cu thin sheets, Fig. 5.


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