Meeting Abstract

S4.3  Wednesday, Jan. 5  Variation, Selection, and Ecological Constraints in the Sensory-Motor Systems of Fishes TRICAS, T.C.; Hawaii Inst of Marine Biology and Univ. Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu tricas@hawaii.edu

The field of modern ecology attempts to define processes and interactions responsible for the distribution and abundance of organisms in their environment. These spatial distributions are influenced by foraging, competition, navigation, and reproductive behaviors that are mediated by sensory, central nervous and motor systems. While much work has revealed proximate details on the sensory systems of fishes, relatively few studies examine variation in responses and potential fitness consequences among individuals or species that may affect these behaviors. Thus, one scientific approach in neuroecology is to model, test and interpret neural system function in response to biologically-relevant stimuli normally encountered in the wild. Anatomical, neurophysiological and behavioral studies on the ampullary electrosense and lateral line of elasmobranch fishes provide insight into their distributions in different habitats, the ability to detect prey and mates, and their possible use of magnetic fields for orientation/navigation behaviors over large areas. Integrative studies on sound production, hearing and natural behavior in teleost fish demonstrate within species variation and seasonal neuropeptide modulation of the central processing of context-specific acoustic stimuli. Despite the large amount of independent neurobiological and ecological studies that exist, more integrative studies are needed to address questions of how neural systems process biologically relevant stimuli and influence their distributions in the wild.