Structural manipulations of a shelter resource reveal underlying preference functions in a shell-dwelling cichlid fish.

ABSTRACT: Many animals can modify the environments in which they live, thereby changing the selection pressures they experience. A common example of such niche construction is the use, creation or modification of environmental resources for use as nests or shelters. Because these resources often have correlated structural elements, it can be difficult to disentangle the relative contribution of these elements to resource choice, and the preference functions underlying niche-construction behaviour remain hidden. Here, we present an experimental paradigm that uses 3D scanning, modelling and printing to create replicas of structures that differ with respect to key structural attributes. We show that a niche-constructing, shell-dwelling cichlid fish, Neolamprologus multifasciatus, has strong open

SUBMITTER: Bose APH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7287357 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature