| 1. |
- Sköld, Helen Nilsson, et al.
(författare)
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Hormonal regulation of female nuptial coloration in a fish.
- 2008
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Ingår i: Hormones and behavior. - : Elsevier BV. - 1095-6867 .- 0018-506X. ; 54:4, s. 549-56
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Physiological color change in camouflage and mating is widespread among fishes, but little is known about the regulation of such temporal changes in nuptial coloration and particularly concerning female coloration. To better understand regulation of nuptial coloration we investigated physiological color change in female two-spotted gobies (Gobiusculus flavescens). Females of this species develop an orange belly that acts as an ornament. The orange color is caused by the color of the gonads combined with the chromathophore based pigmentation and transparency of the skin. Often during courtship and female-female competition, a rapid increase in orange coloration, in combination with lighter sides and back that increases skin and body transparency, gives the belly an intense 'glowing' appearance. To understand how this increased orange coloration can be regulated we analysed chromatic and transparency effects of neurohumoral agents on abdominal skin biopsies in vitro. We found prolactin and alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone (MSH) to increase orange coloration of the skin. By contrast, melatonin and noradrenaline increased skin transparency, but had a negative effect on orange coloration. However, mixtures of melatonin and MSH, or melatonin and prolactin, increased both orange coloration and transparency. This effect mimics the chromatic 'glow' effect that commonly takes place during courtship and intra sexual aggression. Notably, not only epidermal chromatophores but also internal chromatophores lining the peritoneum responded to hormone treatments. There were no chromatic effects of the sex steroids 17beta-estradiol, testosterone or 11-ketotestosterone. We hypothesize that similar modulation of nuptial coloration by multiple hormones may be widespread in nature.
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| 2. |
- Uller, Tobias, 1977, et al.
(författare)
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Direct exposure to corticosterone during embryonic development influences behaviour in an ovoviviparous lizard
- 2006
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Ingår i: ETHOLOGY. - : Wiley. - 0179-1613 .- 1439-0310. ; 112:4, s. 390-397
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It is becoming increasingly clear that conditions experienced during embryonic development can be of major importance for traits subsequent to parturition or hatching. For example, in mammals, offspring from stressed mothers show a variety of changes in behavioural, morphological, and life-history traits. The effects of maternal stress on trait development are believed to be mediated via transfer of glucocorticoids, the main hormones released during the stress response, from mother to offspring. However, also other physiological maternal responses during stress could be responsible for changes in offspring phenotype. We investigated the direct effects of corticosterone on offspring development, without other confounding factors related to increased maternal stress, by injection of corticosterone in eggs of the ovoviviparous lizard Lacerta vivipara. Corticosterone-manipulated offspring did not show impaired development, reduced body size or body condition at parturition. However, corticosterone-treated offspring showed altered anti-predator behaviour, as measured by the time required to emerge from shelter after a simulated predator attack. Differential steroid exposure during development, possibly mediated by maternal stress response, may explain some of the variation in behaviour among individuals in natural populations.
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| 3. |
- Larsson, Kjell, 1958-, et al.
(författare)
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Nest parasitism in the barnacle goose : evidence from protein fingerprinting and microsatellites
- 2009
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Ingår i: Animal Behaviour. - London : Academic Press. - 0003-3472 .- 1095-8282. ; 78:1, s. 167-174
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Geese are often seen as one of nature's best examples of monogamous relationships, and many social pairs stay together for life. However, when parents and young are screened genetically, some chicks do not match their social parents. Although this has often been explained as adoption of foreign young after hatching, conspecific nest parasitism is another possibility. We used nondestructive egg albumen sampling and protein fingerprinting to estimate the frequency and success of nest parasitism in a Baltic Sea population of barnacle geese, Branta leucopsis. Among the 86 nests for which we had the most complete information, 36% were parasitized, and 12% of the eggs were parasitic. Almost 80% of the parasitic eggs were laid after the host began incubation. Hatching of these eggs was limited to the few cases where the host female incubated longer than normally because her own eggs failed to hatch. Conspecific nest parasitism in this population therefore seems mainly to be an alternative reproductive tactic of lower fitness than normal nesting. Comparison with DNA profiling of chicks (with 10–14 microsatellites) and other evidence confirmed the suitability of protein fingerprinting for analysis of nest parasitism. It can often provide more data than microsatellites, if eggs are albumen-sampled soon after being laid, before most losses occur.
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| 4. |
- Barber, I., et al.
(författare)
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Behavioural responses to simulated avian predation in female three spined sticklebacks the effect of experimental Schistocephalus solidus infections
- 2004
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Ingår i: Behaviour. - 0005-7959 .- 1568-539X. ; 141, s. 1425-1440
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Plerocercoid larvae of Schistocephalus solidus are common parasites of three-spined sticklebacks that require the ingestion of stickleback hosts by birds to complete their life cycle. Amongst wild-caught sticklebacks, infection is associated with a reduction in antipredator behaviour; however, to date no study has examined the escape responses of experimentally infected sticklebacks, and thus assigning causality remains difficult. Here, we compare aspects of the antipredator behaviour of five experimentally infected female sticklebacks with shamexposed controls over a 16 post-exposure week period. During weeks 1-7 post-exposure, the escape responses of infected fish did not differ significantly from those of sham-exposed fish. However, over weeks 9-15, when infected fish had developed plerocercoids of >50 mg—the size at which they become infective to birds —a lower proportion of infected fish performed directional responses and reached cover within 2 s of the strike. Infected fish also performed a lower frequency of ‘staggered dashes’, and a higher frequency of ‘slow swims’, than shamexposed fish over weeks 9-15. Amongst sham-exposed fish, re-emergence from cover was uncommon throughout the study, but infected fish regularly left cover during weeks 9-15. Our results support those of previous studies examining behavioural change in naturally infected fish and, although other explanations remain possible, our finding that behaviour change in experimentally-infected fish is limited to hosts harbouring single infective parasites provides further evidence that the behaviour changes may be parasite adaptations.
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| 5. |
- Barber, I., et al.
(författare)
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Effects of experimental Schistocephalus solidus infections on growth, morphology and sexual development of female three-spined sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus
- 2003
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Ingår i: Parasitology. - 0031-1820 .- 1469-8161. ; 126, s. 359-367
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The use of naturally infected hosts in studies attempting to identify parasite-induced changes in host biology is problematical because it does not eliminate the possibility that infection may be a consequence, rather than a cause, of host trait variation. In addition, uncontrolled concomitant infections may confound results. In this study we experimentally infected individual laboratory-bred female three-spined sticklebacks Gasterosteus aculeatus L. with the pseudophyllidean cestode Schistocephalus solidus [Muller], and compared the morphology and growth patterns of infected females with sham-exposed controls over a 16-week period. Fish were fed a ration of 8% body weight per day. Non-invasive image analysis techniques allowed the growth of individual plerocercoids to be tracked in vivo throughout the course of infection, and patterns of host and parasite growth were determined. Females that developed infections diverged morphometrically from unexposed control females and exposed-uninfected females at 6 weeks post-infection, with the width of the body at the pectoral fins giving the earliest indication of infection success. When including the plerocercoid, infected females gained weight more quickly than controls, but when plerocercoid weight was removed this trend was reversed. There was no effect of infection on the increase in fish length. Plerocercoids grew at different rates in individual hosts, and exhibited measurable sustained weight increases of up to 10% per day. Final estimates of plerocercoid weight from morphometric analysis prior to autopsy were accurate to within +/-17% of actual plerocercoid weight. At autopsy, infected female sticklebacks had significantly lower perivisceral fat reserves but had developed significantly larger ovaries than controls. The results are discussed in relation to previous studies examining natural infections, and the value of utilizing experimental infections to examine ecological aspects of host-parasite interactions is discussed.
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| 6. |
- Svensson, P. A., et al.
(författare)
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Chromatic interaction between egg pigmentation and skin chromatophores in the nuptial coloration of female two-spotted gobies
- 2005
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Ingår i: Journal of Experimental Biology. - : The Company of Biologists. - 0022-0949 .- 1477-9145. ; 208:23, s. 4391-4397
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In two-spotted gobies (Gobiusculus flavescens Fabricius 1779), females develop an orange belly as they approach sexual maturity. Bright belly coloration is preferred by males and has been suggested to act as a female ornament. This coloration is unusual in that it originates partly from pigmentation of the abdominal skin but also from strongly pigmented gonads directly visible through the skin. In addition, females have been observed to temporarily become more colourful during courtship and competition. To understand how gonad and skin pigmentation interact in this nuptial coloration, the potential for colour modification via regulation of skin chromatophores was investigated. Noradrenaline caused aggregation of chromatophore pigment and was used to experimentally reduce the contribution of skin chromatophores to the nuptial coloration. Chromatophore pigment aggregation caused bellies to become less colourful and abdominal skin biopsies to become less colourful and more transparent. There was a strong positive relationship between belly coloration and the coloration of the underlying gonads. This shows that belly coloration honestly reflects egg pigmentation, mainly because the transparency of the abdominal skin allows other fish to see the gonads directly. Interestingly, when noradrenaline caused pigment to aggregate and thereby increased the transparency of the skin, the relationship between belly and gonad coloration weakened. We conclude that female G. flavescens have a potential to use skin chromatophores to rapidly alter their nuptial coloration, thereby affecting the efficacy with which information about gonad coloration is conveyed.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Svensson, P. Andreas, et al.
(författare)
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Female ornamentation and egg carotenoids of six sympatric gobies
- 2009
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Ingår i: Journal of Fish Biology. - 0022-1112 .- 1095-8649. ; 75, s. 2777–2787-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Belly colouration, gonad carotenoid concentration and skin transparency were quantified in gravid Gobiusculus flavescens, as well as in females of five sympatric gobies where belly ornamentation has not been described. Although G. flavescens females did, indeed, have far more colourful bellies than the other species, this could only in part be explained by a high concentration of total gonad carotenoids. Comparable, or occasionally higher, carotenoid levels were found in the gonads of other species. Instead, the unusual ornamentation of G. flavescens arises from a unique combination of carotenoid-rich gonads and a highly transparent abdominal skin.
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