The transgenerational effects of personally-acquired and socially-acquired predation cues in three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus)


SOCIETY FOR INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY
2021 VIRTUAL ANNUAL MEETING (VAM)
January 3 – Febuary 28, 2021

Meeting Abstract


100-8  Sat Jan 2  The transgenerational effects of personally-acquired and socially-acquired predation cues in three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) Afseth, C*; Hellmann, J; Anderson, S; Shim, A; Bell, A; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; University of Dayton; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign cafseth2@illinois.edu

There are a variety of mechanisms through which animals are able to learn about environmental stressors without personally experiencing them. One such mechanism is transgenerational plasticity, in which parental experiences can alter offspring phenotype. Another is social learning, the process of individuals modifying their behavior by observing conspecifics. In this study, we investigated the extent to which three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) offspring phenotypes are altered when parents have socially-acquired information about their environment, in the context of paternal predation effects on offspring antipredator behavior. In a full factorial experiment, we independently manipulated whether fathers were exposed to predation risk or if they received social cues of predation risk via their neighbors. Predation risk was simulated through both visual and olfactory exposure to cues. We then generated offspring and assessed larval antipredator behavior as well as shoaling behavior later in life. Larval offspring of fathers that encountered socially-acquired cues of predation froze for less time when chased with a model sculpin compared to the control and compared to offspring of fathers that personally experienced predation cues. In the adult assays, offspring of fathers personally exposed to predation took longer to approach a shoal of conspecifics compared to the control. This suggests that both socially- and personally-acquired information in parents can have consequences for offspring. These findings have implications for our understanding of how information can be transmitted by individuals within social groups and across generations.

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