Social competition affects electric signal plasticity and steroid levels in the gymnotiform fish Brachyhypopomus gauderio.

ABSTRACT: Sexually-selected communication signals can be used by competing males to settle contests without incurring the costs of fighting. Steroid regulation of these signals can render them as reliable indicators of a male's physiological state. We investigated how plasticity in electrocommunication signals is driven by social competition for mates, mediated by steroid hormones, and subject to the effects of past social experience. We measured the electric waveform's amplitude and duration and steroid hormone levels of male gymnotiform electric fish (Brachyhypopomus gauderio) following week-long periods of social isolation, and low or high social competition. To quantify the effect of social history on the modulation of the electric signal, six groups of six males experienced all three social con

SUBMITTER: Salazar VL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2761502 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature