Pub Date : 2024-09-13DOI: 10.1101/2024.08.27.609954
Diandra Duengen, Andrea Ravignani
Harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) are a common zoo species that show a scientifically valuable propensity for vocal learning. Under human care, the seals can be trained to associate vocalizations with cues. This ability is termed vocal usage learning and is characterized by learning to use a vocalization in a specific context. Among mammals, seals are prime candidates to investigate vocal learning. Yet, only a handful of reports exist on harbor seal vocal learning abilities and even less document how these were trained or tested. Here, we investigate how, and if, two experimentally naive harbor seals under human care, can be trained to participate in scientific experiments. We describe the training and testing of two seals in two basic vocal learning experiments. We trained the animals to vocalize upon the presentation of discriminative stimuli (SD) through operant conditioning methods and tested their abilities to i) vocalize and refrain from vocalizing on two distinct SDs, and ii) produce two different vocalizations upon the presentation of two different SDs. Both seals learned the tasks: the first task was achieved within 118 trials (22 errors to criterion) and 220 trials (40 errors to criterion), the second task within 480 trials (158 errors to criterion) and 380 trials (94 errors to criterion), respectively. Our results confirm that harbor seals are capable of vocal usage learning and further suggest that associating individually distinct vocalizations with different SDs may be more cognitively demanding than vocalizing and being silent on SD.
{"title":"Training Experimentally Naive Harbor Seals to Participate in Vocal Learning Experiments in a Zoo","authors":"Diandra Duengen, Andrea Ravignani","doi":"10.1101/2024.08.27.609954","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.08.27.609954","url":null,"abstract":"Harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) are a common zoo species that show a scientifically valuable propensity for vocal learning. Under human care, the seals can be trained to associate vocalizations with cues. This ability is termed vocal usage learning and is characterized by learning to use a vocalization in a specific context. Among mammals, seals are prime candidates to investigate vocal learning. Yet, only a handful of reports exist on harbor seal vocal learning abilities and even less document how these were trained or tested. Here, we investigate how, and if, two experimentally naive harbor seals under human care, can be trained to participate in scientific experiments. We describe the training and testing of two seals in two basic vocal learning experiments. We trained the animals to vocalize upon the presentation of discriminative stimuli (SD) through operant conditioning methods and tested their abilities to i) vocalize and refrain from vocalizing on two distinct SDs, and ii) produce two different vocalizations upon the presentation of two different SDs. Both seals learned the tasks: the first task was achieved within 118 trials (22 errors to criterion) and 220 trials (40 errors to criterion), the second task within 480 trials (158 errors to criterion) and 380 trials (94 errors to criterion), respectively. Our results confirm that harbor seals are capable of vocal usage learning and further suggest that associating individually distinct vocalizations with different SDs may be more cognitively demanding than vocalizing and being silent on SD.","PeriodicalId":501210,"journal":{"name":"bioRxiv - Animal Behavior and Cognition","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142211713","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-12DOI: 10.1101/2024.09.10.611925
Guixiang Yu, Qihao Yang, Qi Wu
Pharmacological interventions targeting the aging process hold significant promise for improving the quality of life in the elderly and reducing healthcare costs. Rapamycin, in particular, has exhibited significant anti-aging and lifespan-extending effects across multiple model organisms. However, chronic rapamycin administration may also lead to various adverse reactions since it reshapes energy metabolism. Here, using Drosophila melanogaster as a model, we show that life-prolonging doses of rapamycin significantly modify animal feeding behavior. Long-term administration of rapamycin decreased protein preference in females while enhancing their sugar intake. Utilizing a chemically defined diet, we identified that changes in amino acid and sugar feeding preferences emerged as early as the second day of rapamycin treatment, preceding any detectable decline in fecundity. However, rapamycin-induced changes in macronutrient feeding preferences were not observed in males and sterile mutant females. Overall, our study suggests that the modification of feeding behavior could be a non-negligible side effect of rapamycin treatment, which is influenced by both sex and reproductive status.
{"title":"Rapamycin alters the feeding preference for amino acids and sugar in female Drosophila","authors":"Guixiang Yu, Qihao Yang, Qi Wu","doi":"10.1101/2024.09.10.611925","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.09.10.611925","url":null,"abstract":"Pharmacological interventions targeting the aging process hold significant promise for improving the quality of life in the elderly and reducing healthcare costs. Rapamycin, in particular, has exhibited significant anti-aging and lifespan-extending effects across multiple model organisms. However, chronic rapamycin administration may also lead to various adverse reactions since it reshapes energy metabolism. Here, using Drosophila melanogaster as a model, we show that life-prolonging doses of rapamycin significantly modify animal feeding behavior. Long-term administration of rapamycin decreased protein preference in females while enhancing their sugar intake. Utilizing a chemically defined diet, we identified that changes in amino acid and sugar feeding preferences emerged as early as the second day of rapamycin treatment, preceding any detectable decline in fecundity. However, rapamycin-induced changes in macronutrient feeding preferences were not observed in males and sterile mutant females. Overall, our study suggests that the modification of feeding behavior could be a non-negligible side effect of rapamycin treatment, which is influenced by both sex and reproductive status.","PeriodicalId":501210,"journal":{"name":"bioRxiv - Animal Behavior and Cognition","volume":"12 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142211729","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-11DOI: 10.1101/2024.09.09.611196
Jack C. Winans, Niki H. Learn, I. Long'ida Siodi, J. Kinyua Warutere, Elizabeth A. Archie, Jenny Tung, Susan C. Alberts, A. Catherine Markham
Social group composition can have fitness implications for group members by determining opportunities for affiliative and competitive interactions. Female-female competition may be particularly acute when many groupmates have young infants at the same time, with potential consequences for infant survival. Here, we used decades of data on wild baboons (Papio sp.) in Amboseli, Kenya, to examine the effects of "early lactational synchrony" (here, the proportion of females in a group with an infant <90 days old) on female-female agonistic interactions and infant survival. Because early lactation is an energetically demanding time for mothers and a risky time for infants, we expected early lactational synchrony to produce intensified competition for food and/or male protectors, resulting in more frequent female-female agonistic interactions and high infant mortality. In support of these predictions, we found that the frequency of female-female agonistic interactions increased with increasing early lactational synchrony. Reproductive state affected this relationship: while females in all states (cycling, pregnant, and postpartum amenorrhea) initiated more agonistic interactions when early lactational synchrony was high, only females in postpartum amenorrhea (including, but not limited to, females in early lactation) received more agonistic interactions. Furthermore, while high early lactational synchrony was rare, it strongly predicted infant mortality. This association may result from both aggression among adult females and infanticidal behavior by peripubertal females. These findings provide novel evidence that social dynamics may shape reproductive phenology in a nonseasonal breeder. Specifically, both competition among reproductive females and harassment from nonreproductive females may select against synchronous reproduction.
{"title":"High early lactational synchrony within baboon groups predicts increased infant mortality","authors":"Jack C. Winans, Niki H. Learn, I. Long'ida Siodi, J. Kinyua Warutere, Elizabeth A. Archie, Jenny Tung, Susan C. Alberts, A. Catherine Markham","doi":"10.1101/2024.09.09.611196","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.09.09.611196","url":null,"abstract":"Social group composition can have fitness implications for group members by determining opportunities for affiliative and competitive interactions. Female-female competition may be particularly acute when many groupmates have young infants at the same time, with potential consequences for infant survival. Here, we used decades of data on wild baboons (Papio sp.) in Amboseli, Kenya, to examine the effects of \"early lactational synchrony\" (here, the proportion of females in a group with an infant <90 days old) on female-female agonistic interactions and infant survival. Because early lactation is an energetically demanding time for mothers and a risky time for infants, we expected early lactational synchrony to produce intensified competition for food and/or male protectors, resulting in more frequent female-female agonistic interactions and high infant mortality. In support of these predictions, we found that the frequency of female-female agonistic interactions increased with increasing early lactational synchrony. Reproductive state affected this relationship: while females in all states (cycling, pregnant, and postpartum amenorrhea) initiated more agonistic interactions when early lactational synchrony was high, only females in postpartum amenorrhea (including, but not limited to, females in early lactation) received more agonistic interactions. Furthermore, while high early lactational synchrony was rare, it strongly predicted infant mortality. This association may result from both aggression among adult females and infanticidal behavior by peripubertal females. These findings provide novel evidence that social dynamics may shape reproductive phenology in a nonseasonal breeder. Specifically, both competition among reproductive females and harassment from nonreproductive females may select against synchronous reproduction.","PeriodicalId":501210,"journal":{"name":"bioRxiv - Animal Behavior and Cognition","volume":"177 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142211730","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-11DOI: 10.1101/2024.09.06.611461
Jia Liu, Yan Lu, Piplu Bhuiyan, Jacob Gruttner, Lauren St. Louis, Yutong Yi, Ge Liang, Huafeng Wei
This study investigates the therapeutic effectiveness of intranasal dantrolene nanoparticles in the Ryanodex formulation (DNRF) pretreatment to inhibit lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced depressive and anxiety behavior in mice. Both wild-type (WT) B6SJLF1/J and 5XFAD adult mice were pretreated with intranasal DNRF (5mg/kg), daily, Monday to Friday, 5 days per week, for 4 weeks. Then, mice were treated with intraperitoneal injection of LPS (5mg/kg) for one time. Behavioral tests for depression and anxiety were performed 24 hours after a one-time LPS injection. Biomarkers for inflammation (IL-1β and IL-18) in blood were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In both types of mice, intranasal DNRF significantly inhibited LPS-induced pathological elevation of IL-1β and IL-18 in the blood. Intranasal DNRF abolished LPS-induced depression and anxiety behaviors behavior in both WT and 5XFAD mice, without obvious side effects, which was associated with its significant inhibition of pathological elevation of pyroptosis related cytokines in blood.
{"title":"Intranasal dantrolene nanoparticles inhibit lipopolysaccharide-induced depression and anxiety behavior in mice","authors":"Jia Liu, Yan Lu, Piplu Bhuiyan, Jacob Gruttner, Lauren St. Louis, Yutong Yi, Ge Liang, Huafeng Wei","doi":"10.1101/2024.09.06.611461","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.09.06.611461","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigates the therapeutic effectiveness of intranasal dantrolene nanoparticles in the Ryanodex formulation (DNRF) pretreatment to inhibit lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced depressive and anxiety behavior in mice.\u0000Both wild-type (WT) B6SJLF1/J and 5XFAD adult mice were pretreated with intranasal DNRF (5mg/kg), daily, Monday to Friday, 5 days per week, for 4 weeks. Then, mice were treated with intraperitoneal injection of LPS (5mg/kg) for one time. Behavioral tests for depression and anxiety were performed 24 hours after a one-time LPS injection. Biomarkers for inflammation (IL-1β and IL-18) in blood were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In both types of mice, intranasal DNRF significantly inhibited LPS-induced pathological elevation of IL-1β and IL-18 in the blood. Intranasal DNRF abolished LPS-induced depression and anxiety behaviors behavior in both WT and 5XFAD mice, without obvious side effects, which was associated with its significant inhibition of pathological elevation of pyroptosis related cytokines in blood.","PeriodicalId":501210,"journal":{"name":"bioRxiv - Animal Behavior and Cognition","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142211732","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-10DOI: 10.1101/2024.09.05.611443
Igor Lugo, Martha G. Alatriste-Contreras
The concept of the personal space in crowd dynamics is commonly underestimated. However, the self-awareness of it can prevent and handle risk situations in human crowds. The aim of this study was to explore theoretically the use of the personal space as an interdisciplinary concept and design a computational model based on cellular automata for modeling collective behaviors related to crushing events. We generated transitional rules based on the Shelling's spatial proximity model of segregation. Based on an explorative data analysis and model validation, we found that the dynamics of crowd events showed dependencies between similar or dissimilar individual preferences and their interpersonal distances. These results suggests that crushing events in social gatherings are highly probable and that the initial space between attendees is the key for delaying the presence of crowd disasters.
{"title":"The personal space and the collective behavior of crowd disasters","authors":"Igor Lugo, Martha G. Alatriste-Contreras","doi":"10.1101/2024.09.05.611443","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.09.05.611443","url":null,"abstract":"The concept of the personal space in crowd dynamics is commonly underestimated. However, the self-awareness of it can prevent and handle risk situations in human crowds. The aim of this study was to explore theoretically the use of the personal space as an interdisciplinary concept and design a computational model based on cellular automata for modeling collective behaviors related to crushing events. We generated transitional rules based on the Shelling's spatial proximity model of segregation. Based on an explorative data analysis and model validation, we found that the dynamics of crowd events showed dependencies between similar or dissimilar individual preferences and their interpersonal distances. These results suggests that crushing events in social gatherings are highly probable and that the initial space between attendees is the key for delaying the presence of crowd disasters.","PeriodicalId":501210,"journal":{"name":"bioRxiv - Animal Behavior and Cognition","volume":"76 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142211731","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-10DOI: 10.1101/2024.09.06.611721
Zoltan K Varga, Diana Pejtsik, Timea Csorvas, Eva Mikics, Adam Miklosi, Mate Varga
Zebrafish have revolutionised physiological screening in vertebrates, but the interpretation of individual-based behavioural assays is burdened by the strong sociality of this species. We propose the use of a solitaire fish species, the paradise fish to keep the advantages and compensate for the limitations of the zebrafish model. We compared juvenile paradise fish and zebrafish in social and non-social exploratory tasks, anxiety tests and in a working memory assay to assess their performance in these individual-based models. We found that in contrast to zebrafish, paradise fish did not show social approach in the U-shape sociability test, their novelty exploration was not biased by the presence of a conspecific in the slalom test, and was not impaired by social isolation in the showjump or in the swimming plus-maze (SPM) anxiety tests. While social circumstances did not affect the anxiety of paradise fish, it was sensitive to the anxiolytic drug buspirone. Intra- and interest repeatability measures of the anxiety tests revealed that paradise fish express more consistent exploratory and defensive behaviours regarding time and context compared to zebrafish. Behavioural consistency in paradise fish was also supported by arm alternation as a predominant choice of exploration in the y-maze task. In summary, our results indicate that the behaviour of paradise fish is less biased by social cues and is more effective and repeatable in individual-based assays than zebrafish behaviour. We hypothesise that the two phenomena are connected and novelty exploration, anxiety and working memory can be more reliably measured and are translatable in a solitaire species.
{"title":"Paradise fish (Macropodus opercularis) as novel translational model for emotional and cognitive function","authors":"Zoltan K Varga, Diana Pejtsik, Timea Csorvas, Eva Mikics, Adam Miklosi, Mate Varga","doi":"10.1101/2024.09.06.611721","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.09.06.611721","url":null,"abstract":"Zebrafish have revolutionised physiological screening in vertebrates, but the interpretation of individual-based behavioural assays is burdened by the strong sociality of this species. We propose the use of a solitaire fish species, the paradise fish to keep the advantages and compensate for the limitations of the zebrafish model. We compared juvenile paradise fish and zebrafish in social and non-social exploratory tasks, anxiety tests and in a working memory assay to assess their performance in these individual-based models. We found that in contrast to zebrafish, paradise fish did not show social approach in the U-shape sociability test, their novelty exploration was not biased by the presence of a conspecific in the slalom test, and was not impaired by social isolation in the showjump or in the swimming plus-maze (SPM) anxiety tests. While social circumstances did not affect the anxiety of paradise fish, it was sensitive to the anxiolytic drug buspirone. Intra- and interest repeatability measures of the anxiety tests revealed that paradise fish express more consistent exploratory and defensive behaviours regarding time and context compared to zebrafish. Behavioural consistency in paradise fish was also supported by arm alternation as a predominant choice of exploration in the y-maze task. In summary, our results indicate that the behaviour of paradise fish is less biased by social cues and is more effective and repeatable in individual-based assays than zebrafish behaviour. We hypothesise that the two phenomena are connected and novelty exploration, anxiety and working memory can be more reliably measured and are translatable in a solitaire species.","PeriodicalId":501210,"journal":{"name":"bioRxiv - Animal Behavior and Cognition","volume":"24 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142211726","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-10DOI: 10.1101/2024.09.09.611978
Kim Jensen, Sarah Fogh Thormose, Natasja Krog Noer, Toke Munk Schou, Morten Kargo, Anton Gligorescu, Jan Vaerum Noergaard, Laura Skrubbeltrang Hansen, Roos Marina Zaalberg, Hanne Marie Nielsen, Torsten Nygaard Kristensen
In animal breeding programs, utilizing quantitative genetic designs such as the full-/half-sibling design is fundamental. A full-/half-sibling design demands that mating can be controlled, and individuals can be tracked for the construction of a pedigree. In nature, black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens L.) males are reported to gather in lekking groups to engage in competitive displays and courtship rituals before mating. This lekking behavior is described as crucial for establishing suitable conditions and achieving successful mating, and polygyny is therefore assumed to be rare. We show that when exposing a virgin male to a virgin female, they readily mate, demonstrating the ability to mate without prior lekking and that it is possible to mate selected pairs. Furthermore, we show that successful mating can be achieved between an individual male and at least four virgin females within a four-hour time span, and that nearly all matings result in live offspring. Our findings pave the way for moving H. illucens breeding programs beyond mass selection towards advanced selective breeding designs demanding controlled mating. Such designs enable selection for multiple traits simultaneously, are used to prevent inbreeding, and can drastically increase rates of selection responses compared to mass selection.
{"title":"Controlled and polygynous mating in the black soldier fly: advancing breeding programs through quantitative genetic designs","authors":"Kim Jensen, Sarah Fogh Thormose, Natasja Krog Noer, Toke Munk Schou, Morten Kargo, Anton Gligorescu, Jan Vaerum Noergaard, Laura Skrubbeltrang Hansen, Roos Marina Zaalberg, Hanne Marie Nielsen, Torsten Nygaard Kristensen","doi":"10.1101/2024.09.09.611978","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.09.09.611978","url":null,"abstract":"In animal breeding programs, utilizing quantitative genetic designs such as the full-/half-sibling design is fundamental. A full-/half-sibling design demands that mating can be controlled, and individuals can be tracked for the construction of a pedigree. In nature, black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens L.) males are reported to gather in lekking groups to engage in competitive displays and courtship rituals before mating. This lekking behavior is described as crucial for establishing suitable conditions and achieving successful mating, and polygyny is therefore assumed to be rare. We show that when exposing a virgin male to a virgin female, they readily mate, demonstrating the ability to mate without prior lekking and that it is possible to mate selected pairs. Furthermore, we show that successful mating can be achieved between an individual male and at least four virgin females within a four-hour time span, and that nearly all matings result in live offspring. Our findings pave the way for moving H. illucens breeding programs beyond mass selection towards advanced selective breeding designs demanding controlled mating. Such designs enable selection for multiple traits simultaneously, are used to prevent inbreeding, and can drastically increase rates of selection responses compared to mass selection.","PeriodicalId":501210,"journal":{"name":"bioRxiv - Animal Behavior and Cognition","volume":"64 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142211722","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-10DOI: 10.1101/2024.09.06.611643
Shreyas Kanwar, Renee Nowicki, Isabella RE Mavourneen, Joshua D Gibson
Ants vary extensively in their colony structure, ranging from occupying single nests to tremendous supercolonies that occupy territories spanning large areas. Fewer than 1% of ants are known to produce supercolonies, yet they are disproportionately overrepresented in highly invasive ants. A broader understanding of supercolonial ants in their native range, therefore, may provide key insights into the factors that allow some ants to become invasive. Here, we show the results of behavioral assays of two native species of ants, Dorymyrmex bureni and D. smithi (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Dolichoderinae) across geographically separated sites in southeastern Georgia, USA. We show that D. smithi has extremely low incidence of aggression in ants from sites up to 35 km apart, indicating that this may be a supercolonial species. In contrast, we show that D. bureni exhibits high levels of aggression between nest sites. Dorymyrmex smithi is also a temporary social parasite of D. bureni and these two species form mixed nests with no apparent interspecific aggression between workers, but we show that both species interact aggressively in assays within and between sites when the workers are derived from pure species nests. These findings represent an important addition to our knowledge of supercolonial species, and they also lay the groundwork for further studies of the parasitic relationship between these species.
蚂蚁的蚁群结构千差万别，从占据单个蚁巢到占据大片领土的巨大超级蚁群，不一而足。目前已知只有不到 1%的蚂蚁会产生超级蚁群，但它们在高度入侵蚂蚁中的比例却过高。因此，更广泛地了解原生地的超级群体蚂蚁，可能会对某些蚂蚁成为入侵者的因素提供重要的启示。在这里，我们展示了在美国佐治亚州东南部两个地理位置不同的地点对两种本地蚂蚁 Dorymyrmex bureni 和 D. smithi（膜翅目：蚁科：Dolichoderinae）进行行为测定的结果。我们发现，在相距 35 千米的地点，D. smithi 蚂蚁的攻击发生率极低，这表明它可能是一个超级殖民地物种。与此相反，我们发现 D. bureni 在巢穴之间表现出很高的攻击性。Dorymyrmex smithi也是D. bureni的临时社会寄生虫，这两个物种形成混合巢穴，工蚁之间没有明显的种间攻击行为，但我们的研究表明，当工蚁来自纯种巢穴时，这两个物种在巢穴内和巢穴间的试验中都会发生攻击性互动。这些发现是我们对超殖民地物种知识的重要补充，也为进一步研究这些物种之间的寄生关系奠定了基础。
{"title":"Behavioral Interactions in Two Ant Species in The Southeast United States and Evidence for a Native Supercolony","authors":"Shreyas Kanwar, Renee Nowicki, Isabella RE Mavourneen, Joshua D Gibson","doi":"10.1101/2024.09.06.611643","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.09.06.611643","url":null,"abstract":"Ants vary extensively in their colony structure, ranging from occupying single nests to tremendous supercolonies that occupy territories spanning large areas. Fewer than 1% of ants are known to produce supercolonies, yet they are disproportionately overrepresented in highly invasive ants. A broader understanding of supercolonial ants in their native range, therefore, may provide key insights into the factors that allow some ants to become invasive. Here, we show the results of behavioral assays of two native species of ants, Dorymyrmex bureni and D. smithi (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Dolichoderinae) across geographically separated sites in southeastern Georgia, USA. We show that D. smithi has extremely low incidence of aggression in ants from sites up to 35 km apart, indicating that this may be a supercolonial species. In contrast, we show that D. bureni exhibits high levels of aggression between nest sites. Dorymyrmex smithi is also a temporary social parasite of D. bureni and these two species form mixed nests with no apparent interspecific aggression between workers, but we show that both species interact aggressively in assays within and between sites when the workers are derived from pure species nests. These findings represent an important addition to our knowledge of supercolonial species, and they also lay the groundwork for further studies of the parasitic relationship between these species.","PeriodicalId":501210,"journal":{"name":"bioRxiv - Animal Behavior and Cognition","volume":"38 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142211747","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-09DOI: 10.1101/2024.09.05.611370
Jordi ter Horst, Michael X Cohen, Bernhard Englitz
Being able to reactively stop ongoing movements is important for safe navigation through the environment. Reactive stopping is typically studied using the stop-signal task, where participants are occasionally instructed to stop initiated movements. The speed of stopping, also referred to as the stop-signal reaction time (SSRT), is not observable because successful stopping lacks a response, but can be estimated. Researchers most often acquire one session of data per participant to estimate the speed of stopping, but sometimes more sessions of data are acquired to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio, for example when the task is combined with neural recordings such as electrophysiology. However, it is unknown whether the estimated stopping speed is a fixed trait or a state that can vary under identical experimental conditions. In this study, we investigate whether a separately estimated SSRT for each acquired session is statistically meaningful compared to estimating an across-session SSRT, by collecting many sessions in which male rats performed a stop-signal task. Results revealed that within-animal stopping speeds meaningfully changed from session to session and were not following a trend over time (e.g., due to task learning). Single-session SSRT estimates with lower reliabilities were associated with higher go trial response time variabilities, lower skewness levels of the go trial response time distribution, and lower stop accuracies. We also explored which factors explained changing SSRTs, and showed that motivation, shared motor dynamics, and attention could play a role. In conclusion, we encourage researchers to treat SSRTs as state-like variables when collecting multi-session stop-signal task data, as our results have convincingly shown that stopping speeds are far from trait-like under identical experimental conditions. This session-by-session approach will help future research in which neural signatures of reactive stopping need to be extracted in a time-precise manner, because time-locking stop-related neural activity to session-specific SSRTs is expected to capture the signature more precisely as opposed to an across-session SSRT.
{"title":"Stopping Speed as State, Not Trait: Exploring Within-Animal Varying Stopping Speeds in a Multi-Session Stop-Signal Task","authors":"Jordi ter Horst, Michael X Cohen, Bernhard Englitz","doi":"10.1101/2024.09.05.611370","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.09.05.611370","url":null,"abstract":"Being able to reactively stop ongoing movements is important for safe navigation through the environment. Reactive stopping is typically studied using the stop-signal task, where participants are occasionally instructed to stop initiated movements. The speed of stopping, also referred to as the stop-signal reaction time (SSRT), is not observable because successful stopping lacks a response, but can be estimated. Researchers most often acquire one session of data per participant to estimate the speed of stopping, but sometimes more sessions of data are acquired to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio, for example when the task is combined with neural recordings such as electrophysiology. However, it is unknown whether the estimated stopping speed is a fixed trait or a state that can vary under identical experimental conditions. In this study, we investigate whether a separately estimated SSRT for each acquired session is statistically meaningful compared to estimating an across-session SSRT, by collecting many sessions in which male rats performed a stop-signal task. Results revealed that within-animal stopping speeds meaningfully changed from session to session and were not following a trend over time (e.g., due to task learning). Single-session SSRT estimates with lower reliabilities were associated with higher go trial response time variabilities, lower skewness levels of the go trial response time distribution, and lower stop accuracies. We also explored which factors explained changing SSRTs, and showed that motivation, shared motor dynamics, and attention could play a role. In conclusion, we encourage researchers to treat SSRTs as state-like variables when collecting multi-session stop-signal task data, as our results have convincingly shown that stopping speeds are far from trait-like under identical experimental conditions. This session-by-session approach will help future research in which neural signatures of reactive stopping need to be extracted in a time-precise manner, because time-locking stop-related neural activity to session-specific SSRTs is expected to capture the signature more precisely as opposed to an across-session SSRT.","PeriodicalId":501210,"journal":{"name":"bioRxiv - Animal Behavior and Cognition","volume":"53 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142211723","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-07DOI: 10.1101/2024.09.03.611052
Amanda L Sharpe, Laci R Liter, Darius Donohue, Kelsey A Carter, Patricia Vangeneugden, Sofia Weaver, Michael Stout, Michael J Beckstead
Opioid abuse and overdose are major societal issues, and use of opioids among the elderly is increasing at a rapid rate. Despite this increase in opioid use, overdose, and use disorders among the elderly, little is known about abuse potential in a healthy aged population due to technical difficulties with intravenous self-administration in aged rodents. The goal of this study was to address the critical gap in the literature regarding age-dependent differences in opioid (remifentanil and fentanyl) self-administration between old and young mice. Male and female mice were grouped into young (19 weeks) and old (101 weeks) were trained to self-administer intravenous fentanyl or remifentanil in daily sessions. In both old and young mice, acquisition, intake, and cue-responding after forced abstinence were measured for both drugs, and a dose-response curve (remifentanil) and dose-escalation (fentanyl) were conducted. Old mice learned to self-administer both remifentanil and fentanyl faster and more accurately than young mice. While baseline intake was greater in the old compared to young mice self-administering remifentanil, we did not see an increased intake with age at either dose of fentanyl tested. Further, compared to young mice, the old mice showed a greater incubation of responding for cues previously associated with remifentanil after a forced abstinence, but this was not seen for fentanyl. Together these data suggest that an aged population may have an increased drug-abuse vulnerability for opioids compared to young counterparts and underscore the importance of future work on mechanisms responsible for this increased vulnerability.
{"title":"Aged mice exhibit faster acquisition of intravenous opioid self-administration with variable effects on intake","authors":"Amanda L Sharpe, Laci R Liter, Darius Donohue, Kelsey A Carter, Patricia Vangeneugden, Sofia Weaver, Michael Stout, Michael J Beckstead","doi":"10.1101/2024.09.03.611052","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.09.03.611052","url":null,"abstract":"Opioid abuse and overdose are major societal issues, and use of opioids among the elderly is increasing at a rapid rate. Despite this increase in opioid use, overdose, and use disorders among the elderly, little is known about abuse potential in a healthy aged population due to technical difficulties with intravenous self-administration in aged rodents. The goal of this study was to address the critical gap in the literature regarding age-dependent differences in opioid (remifentanil and fentanyl) self-administration between old and young mice. Male and female mice were grouped into young (19 weeks) and old (101 weeks) were trained to self-administer intravenous fentanyl or remifentanil in daily sessions. In both old and young mice, acquisition, intake, and cue-responding after forced abstinence were measured for both drugs, and a dose-response curve (remifentanil) and dose-escalation (fentanyl) were conducted. Old mice learned to self-administer both remifentanil and fentanyl faster and more accurately than young mice. While baseline intake was greater in the old compared to young mice self-administering remifentanil, we did not see an increased intake with age at either dose of fentanyl tested. Further, compared to young mice, the old mice showed a greater incubation of responding for cues previously associated with remifentanil after a forced abstinence, but this was not seen for fentanyl. Together these data suggest that an aged population may have an increased drug-abuse vulnerability for opioids compared to young counterparts and underscore the importance of future work on mechanisms responsible for this increased vulnerability.","PeriodicalId":501210,"journal":{"name":"bioRxiv - Animal Behavior and Cognition","volume":"33 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142211725","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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