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Seasonal variation of behavior and brain size in a freshwater fish

1. Teleost fishes occupy a range of ecosystem, and habitat types subject to large seasonal fluctuations. Temperate fishes, in particular, survive large seasonal shifts in temperature, light availability, and access to certain habitats. Mobile species such as lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) can beh...

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Autores principales: Versteeg, Evan J., Fernandes, Timothy, Guzzo, Matthew M., Laberge, Frédéric, Middel, Trevor, Ridgway, Mark, McMeans, Bailey C.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8571637/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34765152
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8179
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author Versteeg, Evan J.
Fernandes, Timothy
Guzzo, Matthew M.
Laberge, Frédéric
Middel, Trevor
Ridgway, Mark
McMeans, Bailey C.
author_facet Versteeg, Evan J.
Fernandes, Timothy
Guzzo, Matthew M.
Laberge, Frédéric
Middel, Trevor
Ridgway, Mark
McMeans, Bailey C.
author_sort Versteeg, Evan J.
collection PubMed
description 1. Teleost fishes occupy a range of ecosystem, and habitat types subject to large seasonal fluctuations. Temperate fishes, in particular, survive large seasonal shifts in temperature, light availability, and access to certain habitats. Mobile species such as lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) can behaviorally respond to seasonal variation by shifting their habitat deeper and further offshore in response to warmer surface water temperatures during the summer. During cooler seasons, the use of more structurally complex nearshore zones by lake trout could increase cognitive demands and potentially result in a larger relative brain size during those periods. Yet, there is limited understanding of how such behavioral responses to a seasonally shifting environment might shape, or be shaped by, the nervous system. 2. Here, we quantified variation in relative brain size and the size of five externally visible brain regions in lake trout, across six consecutive seasons in two different lakes. Acoustic telemetry data from one of our study lakes were collected during the study period from a different subset of individuals and used to infer relationships between brain size and seasonal behaviors (habitat use and movement rate). 3. Our results indicated that lake trout relative brain size was larger in the fall and winter compared with the spring and summer in both lakes. Larger brains coincided with increased use of nearshore habitats and increased horizontal movement rates in the fall and winter based on acoustic telemetry. The telencephalon followed the same pattern as whole brain size, while the other brain regions (cerebellum, optic tectum, olfactory bulbs, and hypothalamus) were only smaller in the spring. 4. These findings provide evidence that flexibility in brain size could underpin shifts in behavior, which could potentially subserve functions associated with differential habitat use during cold and warm seasons and allow fish to succeed in seasonally variable environments.
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spelling pubmed-85716372021-11-10 Seasonal variation of behavior and brain size in a freshwater fish Versteeg, Evan J. Fernandes, Timothy Guzzo, Matthew M. Laberge, Frédéric Middel, Trevor Ridgway, Mark McMeans, Bailey C. Ecol Evol Research Articles 1. Teleost fishes occupy a range of ecosystem, and habitat types subject to large seasonal fluctuations. Temperate fishes, in particular, survive large seasonal shifts in temperature, light availability, and access to certain habitats. Mobile species such as lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) can behaviorally respond to seasonal variation by shifting their habitat deeper and further offshore in response to warmer surface water temperatures during the summer. During cooler seasons, the use of more structurally complex nearshore zones by lake trout could increase cognitive demands and potentially result in a larger relative brain size during those periods. Yet, there is limited understanding of how such behavioral responses to a seasonally shifting environment might shape, or be shaped by, the nervous system. 2. Here, we quantified variation in relative brain size and the size of five externally visible brain regions in lake trout, across six consecutive seasons in two different lakes. Acoustic telemetry data from one of our study lakes were collected during the study period from a different subset of individuals and used to infer relationships between brain size and seasonal behaviors (habitat use and movement rate). 3. Our results indicated that lake trout relative brain size was larger in the fall and winter compared with the spring and summer in both lakes. Larger brains coincided with increased use of nearshore habitats and increased horizontal movement rates in the fall and winter based on acoustic telemetry. The telencephalon followed the same pattern as whole brain size, while the other brain regions (cerebellum, optic tectum, olfactory bulbs, and hypothalamus) were only smaller in the spring. 4. These findings provide evidence that flexibility in brain size could underpin shifts in behavior, which could potentially subserve functions associated with differential habitat use during cold and warm seasons and allow fish to succeed in seasonally variable environments. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2021-09-30 /pmc/articles/PMC8571637/ /pubmed/34765152 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8179 Text en © 2021 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Versteeg, Evan J.
Fernandes, Timothy
Guzzo, Matthew M.
Laberge, Frédéric
Middel, Trevor
Ridgway, Mark
McMeans, Bailey C.
Seasonal variation of behavior and brain size in a freshwater fish
title Seasonal variation of behavior and brain size in a freshwater fish
title_full Seasonal variation of behavior and brain size in a freshwater fish
title_fullStr Seasonal variation of behavior and brain size in a freshwater fish
title_full_unstemmed Seasonal variation of behavior and brain size in a freshwater fish
title_short Seasonal variation of behavior and brain size in a freshwater fish
title_sort seasonal variation of behavior and brain size in a freshwater fish
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8571637/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34765152
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8179
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