Dataset Information

Small increases in group size improve small shoals' response to water flow in zebrafish.

ABSTRACT: Social context may influence the perception of sensory cues and the ability to display refined behavioral responses. Previous work suggests that effective responses to environmental cues can be contingent on having a sufficient number of individuals in a group. Thus, the changes in group size may have profound impacts, particularly on the behavior of small social groups. Using zebrafish (Danio rerio), here we examined how changes in group size influence the ability to respond to changes in water flow. We found that fish in relatively larger groups displayed stronger rheotaxis even when comparing pairs of fish with groups of four fish, indicating that a small increase in group size can enhance the responsiveness to environmental change. Individual fish in relatively larger groups also spent less time in the energetically costly leading position compared to individuals in pairs, indicating that even a small increase in group size may provide energetic benefits. We also found that the shoal cohesion was dependent on the size of the group but within a given group size, shoal cohesion did not vary with flow rate. Our study highlights that even a small change in group size could significantly affect the way social fish respond to the changes in water flow, which could be an important attribute that shapes the resilience of social animals in changing environments.

SUBMITTER: Suriyampola PS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9269864 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Small increases in group size improve small shoals' response to water flow in zebrafish.

Suriyampola Piyumika S PS Iruri-Tucker Alec A AA Padilla-Veléz Lyan L Enriquez Alejandra A Shelton Delia S DS Martins Emília P EP

Journal of zoology (London, England : 1987) 20211228 4

Social context may influence the perception of sensory cues and the ability to display refined behavioral responses. Previous work suggests that effective responses to environmental cues can be contingent on having a sufficient number of individuals in a group. Thus, the changes in group size may have profound impacts, particularly on the behavior of small social groups. Using zebrafish (<i>Danio rerio</i>), here we examined how changes in group size influence the ability to respond to changes i ...[more]

PMID: 35814943

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Project description:Information about water flow, detected by lateral line organs, is critical to the behavior and survival of fish and amphibians. While certain aspects of water flow processing have been revealed through electrophysiology, we lack a comprehensive description of the neurons that respond to water flow and the network that they form. Here, we use brain-wide calcium imaging in combination with microfluidic stimulation to map out, at cellular resolution, neuronal responses involved in perceiving and processing water flow information in larval zebrafish. We find a diverse array of neurons responding to head-to-tail (h-t) flow, tail-to-head (t-h) flow, or both. Early in this pathway, in the lateral line ganglia, neurons respond almost exclusively to the simple presence of h-t or t-h flow, but later processing includes neurons responding specifically to flow onset, representing the accumulated displacement of flow during a stimulus, or encoding the speed of the flow. The neurons reporting on these more nuanced details are located across numerous brain regions, including some not previously implicated in water flow processing. A graph theory-based analysis of the brain-wide water flow network shows that a majority of this processing is dedicated to h-t flow detection, and this is reinforced by our finding that details like flow velocity and the total accumulated flow are only encoded for the h-t direction. The results represent the first brain-wide description of processing for this important modality, and provide a departure point for more detailed studies of the flow of information through this network.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT In aquatic animals, the lateral line is important for detecting water flow stimuli, but the brain networks that interpret this information remain mysterious. Here, we have imaged the activity of individual neurons across the entire brains of larval zebrafish, revealing all response types and their brain locations as water flow processing occurs. We find neurons that respond to the simple presence of water flow, and others attuned to the direction, speed, and duration of flow, or the accumulated displacement of water that has passed during the stimulus. With this information, we modeled the underlying network, describing a system that is nuanced in its processing of water flow simulating head-to-tail motion but rudimentary in processing flow in the tail-to-head direction.

Dataset Information

Small increases in group size improve small shoals' response to water flow in zebrafish.

Publications

Small increases in group size improve small shoals' response to water flow in zebrafish.

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