Meeting Abstract

 

P1-161  Friday, Jan. 4 15:30 – 17:30  The Development of Social Status in a Highly Social Fish BUTLER, RM*; SOLOMON-LANE, TK; HOFMANN, HA; University of Chicago; University of Texas; University of Texas rmbutler@uchicago.edu

Social hierarchies are common and have important fitness implications. Individual phenotype strongly influences status in the hierarchy, yet little is known about how behavior and other status-relevant traits develop. We used the highly social African cichlid fish Astatotilapia burtoni, a model system in social neuroscience, to ask how the early-life social environment affects juvenile behavior and the establishment of status. We found that juveniles form hierarchies in a context-specific manner. In groups where individuals differed in size, status relationships formed based on size, as in adults, such that larger fish were dominant over smaller fish. If a pair of size-matched fish was present within the group, social interactions—and status relationships—were not defined by a linear hierarchy. To better understand the neuromolecular underpinnings of status, we manipulated the nonapeptide arginine vasopressin (AVP), an ancient neurohormone that regulates aggression, affiliation, and status across social vertebrates, including adult A. burtoni. Following intracerebroventricular injection, we observed social behavior and quantified neural expression of genes involved in the regulation of social behavior and status. Pharmacological manipulation significantly affected group social dynamics. For example, administering an AVP antagonist to one fish shifted the pattern of interactions such that the larger fish had a higher agonistic efficiency. Patterns of neural gene co-expression reveal correlations with social behavior and status, as well as the consequences of manipulating AVP on gene network dynamics. This research is critical to uncovering the neural mechanisms that underlie juvenile social behavior and status, which may have long-term consequences for adult fitness.