O mouse, where art thou? The Mouse Position Surveillance System (MoPSS)—an RFID-based tracking system

Existing methods for analysis of home cage-based preference tests are either time-consuming, not suitable for group management, expensive, and/or based on proprietary equipment that is not freely available. To correct this, we developed an automated system for group-housed mice based on radio frequency identification: the Mouse Position Surveillance System (MoPSS). The system uses an Arduino microcontroller with compatible components; it is affordable and easy to rebuild for every laboratory because it uses free and open-source software and open-source hardware with the RFID readers as the only proprietary component. The MoPSS was validated using female C57BL/6J mice and manual video comparison. It proved to be accurate even for fast-moving mice (up to 100% accuracy after logical reconstruction), and is already implemented in several studies in our laboratory. Here, we provide the complete construction description as well as the validation data and the results of an example experiment. This tracking system will allow group-based preference testing with individually identified mice to be carried out in a convenient manner. This facilitation of preference tests creates the foundation for better housing conditions from the animals’ perspective.

Lane-maze for preference testing in flies

Drosophila melanogaster is a candidate species to replace rodents in some neurobiological studies, encouraging attempts to develop behavioural tests for these flies. This study aimed to develop a behavioural test to simultaneously evaluate ethological (categorical) aspects of the motor and fluid intake activities, which may be used to assess sucrose preference in flies. For that, a lane-maze was 3D-printed to accommodate up to 14 individual flies in a single trial. Each lane had a capillary filled with 5% sucrose solution attached to one of the extremities. To validate a 5-min lane-maze test, male and female flies (adults, 5-6 days of age) underwent 0, 2, 8 or 20 h of food deprivation (FD, n=9-11/group) before testing. Duration of locomotion, immobility and grooming in the lane or capillary were scored from the video-recorded trials using EthoWatcher software. Minor effects of sex or FD were observed in the behaviours of flies. Independent of sex or FD, flies spent proportionally longer on the capillary than on the lane. Flies exhibited a significantly higher preference than expected for the capillary zone when food-deprived for 2h (males) or 20 h (females). Data suggest that short lane-maze test is a feasibly high throughput assessment of sucrose preference in flies, which may be sexually dimorphic as in other species studied so far.

A realistic locomotory model of Drosophila larva for behavioral simulations.

The Drosophila larva is extensively used as model species in experiments where behavior is recorded via tracking equipment and evaluated via population-level metrics. Although larva locomotion neuromechanics have been studied in detail, no comprehensive model has been proposed for realistic simulations of foraging experiments directly comparable to tracked recordings. Here we present a virtual larva for simulating autonomous behavior, fitting empirical observations of spatial and temporal kinematics. We propose a trilayer behavior-based control architecture for larva foraging, allowing to accommodate increasingly complex behaviors. At the basic level, forward crawling and lateral bending are generated via coupled, interfering oscillatory processes under the control of an intermittency module, alternating between crawling bouts and pauses. Next, navigation in olfactory environments is achieved via active sensing and top-down modulation of bending dynamics by concentration changes. Finally, adaptation at the highest level entails associative learning. We could accurately reproduce behavioral experiments on autonomous free exploration, chemotaxis, and odor preference testing. Inter-individual variability is preserved across virtual larva populations allowing for single animal and population studies. Our model is ideally suited to interface with neural circuit models of sensation, memory formation and retrieval, and spatial navigation.

Alternate without alternative: neither preference nor learning explains behaviour of C57BL/6J mice in the T-maze

In rodents, the T-maze is commonly used to investigate spontaneous alternating behaviour, but it can also be used to investigate preference between goods. However, for T-maze preference tests with mice there is no recommended protocol and researchers frequently report reproduction difficulties. Here, we tried to develop an efficient protocol with female C57BL/6J CrL mice for preference tests. We used two different designs, adapting habituation, cues and trial timing. However, in both experiments mice did not show any preference, although we used goods which we knew mice find rewarding. Instead, they alternated choices indicating that exploratory behaviour overruled preference. We argue that this behavioural strategy has evolved as an adaptive trait in saturated conditions where there is no need to take the reward immediately. Therefore, we deem the T-maze unsuitable for preference testing with the procedures we used here.

Consumer Preference Testing of Boiled Sweetpotato Using Crowdsourced Citizen Science in Ghana and Uganda

Crowdsourced citizen science is an emerging approach in plant sciences. The triadic comparison of technologies (tricot) approach has been successfully utilized by demand-led breeding programmes to identify varieties for dissemination suited to specific geographic and climatic regions. An important feature of this approach is the independent way in which farmers individually evaluate the varieties on their own farms as “citizen scientists.” In this study, we adapted this approach to evaluate consumer preferences to boiled sweetpotato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam] roots of 21 advanced breeding materials and varieties in Ghana and 6 released varieties in Uganda. We were specifically interested in evaluating if a more independent style of evaluation (home tasting) would produce results comparable to an approach that involves control over preparation (centralized tasting). We compiled data from 1,433 participants who individually contributed to a home tasting (de-centralized) and a centralized tasting trial in Ghana and Uganda, evaluating overall acceptability, and indicating the reasons for their preferences. Geographic factors showed important contribution to define consumers' preference to boiled sweetpotato genotypes. Home and centralized tasting approaches gave similar rankings for overall acceptability, which was strongly correlated to taste. In both Ghana and Uganda, it was possible to robustly identify superior sweetpotato genotypes from consumers' perspectives. Our results indicate that the tricot approach can be successfully applied to consumer preference studies.

Social Preference Tests in Zebrafish: A Systematic Review

The use of animal models in biology research continues to be necessary for the development of new technologies and medicines, and therefore crucial for enhancing human and animal health. In this context, the need to ensure the compliance of research with the principles Replacement, Reduction and Refinement (the 3 Rs), which underpin the ethical and human approach to husbandry and experimental design, has become a central issue. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is becoming a widely used model in the field of behavioral neuroscience. In particular, studying zebrafish social preference, by observing how an individual fish interacts with conspecifics, may offer insights into several neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. The main aim of this review is to summarize principal factors affecting zebrafish behavior during social preference tests. We identified three categories of social research using zebrafish: studies carried out in untreated wild-type zebrafish, in pharmacologically treated wild-type zebrafish, and in genetically engineered fish. We suggest guidelines for standardizing social preference testing in the zebrafish model. The main advances gleaned from zebrafish social behavior testing are discussed, together with the relevance of this method to scientific research, including the study of behavioral disorders in humans. The authors stress the importance of adopting an ethical approach that considers the welfare of animals involved in experimental procedures. Ensuring a high standard of animal welfare is not only good for the animals, but also enhances the quality of our science.

Preference Provides a Plethora of Problems (Don't Panic)

This review was solicited as an autobiography. The “problems” in my title have two meanings. First, they were professional difficulties caused by my decision to study oviposition preferences of butterflies that were not susceptible to traditional preference-testing designs. Until I provided video, my claim that the butterflies duplicate natural post-alighting host-assessment behavior when placed on hosts by hand was not credible, and the preference-testing technique that I had developed elicited skepticism, anger, and derision. The second meaning of “problems” is scientific. Insect preference comes with complex dimensionality that interacts with host acceptability. Part Two of this review describes how my group's work in this area has revealed unexpected axes of variation in plant–insect interactions—axes capable of frustrating attempts to derive unequivocal conclusions from apparently sensible experimental designs. The possibility that these complexities are lurking should be kept in mind as preference and performance experiments are devised.

Segmentation of consumers of honey and identification of honey preference in Kota Bengkulu

As a country with a vast natural forest, Indonesia has a big potential production of honey. Honey is nutritious food produced by bees that mostly inhabit in the forest. Bengkulu is one of such place produced honey. Honey is considered as healthy supplement by consumer. Therefore, in this research, it has been studied the segmentation of consumers of honey and identification of honey attributes. This research was conducted in June- July 2015. There were 96 responsents gathered from eight (8) outlets selling honey products in Kota Bengkulu. Results showed that the consumers were young adults (67%), women (62%), married (82%), S1 education (56%), Kota Bengkulu domicile (88%) with income range of Rp 2,100,000-5,000,000/month (62%). While the preference testing of honey products based on taste, aroma, and color had the score around 3.5- 3.7. This meant that respondents like the honey product.