Environmental Complexity and Social Organization Sculpt the Brain in Lake Tanganyikan Cichlid Fish

2007 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander A. Pollen ◽  
Adam P. Dobberfuhl ◽  
Justin Scace ◽  
Mathias M. Igulu ◽  
Susan C.P. Renn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
Environmental Complexity ◽  
Tanganyikan Cichlid ◽  
The Brain

Courting and fighting quietly: a lack of acoustic signals in a cooperative Tanganyikan cichlid fish

Hydrobiologia ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 748 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Pisanski ◽  
Susan E. Marsh-Rollo ◽  
Sigal Balshine
Keyword(s):  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
Acoustic Signals ◽  
Tanganyikan Cichlid

scholarly journals The evolution of complex brains and behaviors in African cichlid fishes

2010 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 144-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroly A. Shumway
Keyword(s):  
Visual Acuity ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Habitat Complexity ◽  
Brain Size ◽  
Brain Structures ◽  
Cichlid Fishes ◽  
African Cichlid ◽  
Monogamous Species ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
The Brain

Abstract In this review, I explore the effects of both social organization and the physical environment, specifically habitat complexity, on the brains and behavior of highly visual African cichlid fishes, drawing on examples from primates and birds where appropriate. In closely related fishes from the monophyletic Ectodinii clade of Lake Tanganyika, both forces influence cichlid brains and behavior. Considering social influences first, visual acuity differs with respect to social organization (monogamy versus polygyny). Both the telencephalon and amygdalar homologue, area Dm, are larger in monogamous species. Monogamous species are found to have more vasotocin-immunoreactive cells in the preoptic area of the brain. Habitat complexity also influences brain and behavior in these fishes. Total brain size, telencephalic and cerebellar size are positively correlated with habitat complexity. Visual acuity and spatial memory are enhanced in cichlids living in more complex environments. However habitat complexity and social forces affect cichlid brains differently. Taken together, our field data and plasticity data suggest that some of the species-specific neural effects of habitat complexity could be the consequence of the corresponding social correlates. Environmental forces, however, exert a broader effect on brain structures than social ones do, suggesting allometric expansion of the brain structures in concert with brain size and/or co-evolution of these structures.

scholarly journals First- and second-order sociality determine survival and reproduction in cooperative cichlids

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1819) ◽  
pp. 20151971 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arne Jungwirth ◽  
Michael Taborsky
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Group Size ◽  
Reproductive Output ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
Evolution Of Cooperation ◽  
Large Group ◽  
Indirect Fitness ◽  
Fitness Benefits ◽  
Different Levels

Cooperative breeders serve as a model to study the evolution of cooperation, where costs and benefits of helping are typically scrutinized at the level of group membership. However, cooperation is often observed in multi-level social organizations involving interactions among individuals at various levels. Here, we argue that a full understanding of the adaptive value of cooperation and the evolution of complex social organization requires identifying the effect of different levels of social organization on direct and indirect fitness components. Our long-term field data show that in the cooperatively breeding, colonial cichlid fish Neolamprologus pulcher , both large group size and high colony density significantly raised group persistence. Neither group size nor density affected survival at the individual level, but they had interactive effects on reproductive output; large group size raised productivity when local population density was low, whereas in contrast, small groups were more productive at high densities. Fitness estimates of individually marked fish revealed indirect fitness benefits associated with staying in large groups. Inclusive fitness, however, was not significantly affected by group size, because the direct fitness component was not increased in larger groups. Together, our findings highlight that the reproductive output of groups may be affected in opposite directions by different levels of sociality, and that complex forms of sociality and costly cooperation may evolve in the absence of large indirect fitness benefits and the influence of kin selection.

scholarly journals Fighting Assessment Triggers Rapid Changes in Activity of the Brain Social Decision-Making Network of Cichlid Fish

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olinda Almeida ◽  
Ana S. Félix ◽  
Gonçalo A. Oliveira ◽  
João S. Lopes ◽  
Rui F. Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
Social Decision ◽  
Rapid Changes ◽  
Social Decision Making ◽  
The Brain
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