Meeting Abstract

13-3  Saturday, Jan. 4 10:45 – 11:00  Effect of Exercise Training on Brain Allometry and Cognitive Abilities in Anolis carolinensis SORLIN , MV*; MARKS, JR; JOHNSON, MA; HUSAK, JF; LAILVAUX, SP; University of New Orleans, LA; University of New Orleans, LA; Trinity University, San Antonio, TX; University of Saint Thomas, Saint Paul, MN ; University of New Orleans, LA mvsorlin@uno.edu

Brain size is highly variable across the animal kingdom. Multiple studies investigating this variation point at a correlation between cognitive abilities, brain mass and performance enhancement. For instance, performance enhancement lead to the general increase in brain volume in humans and hippocampal neurogenesis in mice. However, vertebrates outside of the mammalian clade have received very little attention, making it difficult to distinguish general evolutionary patterns across taxa. In order to address this gap, we investigated the effect of training exercise on cognitive abilities and brain allometry in a species of lizard (Anolis carolinensis). Individuals were trained for both endurance and sprint for an extended period of time. Following this treatment, they were subjected to a cognitive test using spatial recognition. We hypothesize that trained individuals will demonstrate higher navigational skills than untrained lizards as well as potentially exhibit an increase in brain size compare to individuals from the control group.