Browsing by Author "Barata, Eduardo Nuno"
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- Considerations on the use of video playbacks as visual stimuli: The Lisbon workshop consensusPublication . Oliveira, Rui Filipe; Rosenthal, Gil G.; Schlupp, Ingo; McGregor, Peter K.; Cuthill, Innes C.; Endler, John A.; Fleishman, Leo J.; Zeil, Jochen; Barata, Eduardo Nuno; Burford, Fiona R. L.; Gonçalves, David; Haley, Michael; Jakobsson, Sven; Jennions, Michael D.; Körner, Kay; Lindström, Leena; Peake, Thomas; Pilastro, Andrea; Pope, Denise S.; Roberts, Sam G. B.; Rowe, Candy; Smith, Jerome; Waas, Joseph R.This paper is the consensus of a workshop that critically evaluated the utility and problems of video playbacks as stimuli in studies of visual behavior. We suggest that video playback is probably suitable for studying motion, shape, texture, size, and brightness. Studying color is problematic because video systems are specifically designed for humans. Any difference in color perception must lead to a different color sensation in most animals. Another potentially problematic limitation of video images is that they lack depth cues derived from stereopsis, accommodation, and motion parallax. Nonetheless, when used appropriately, video playback allows an unprecedented range of questions in visual communication to be addressed. It is important to note that most of the potential limitations of video playback are not unique to this technique but are relevant to all studies of visual signaling in animals.
- A new northern limit for the distribution range of Lipophrys canevae (Pisces: Blenniidae) in the Atlantic OceanPublication . Almada, Vítor Carvalho; Oliveira, Rui Filipe; Gonçalves, Emanuel João; Almeida, Armando J.; Barata, Eduardo NunoIn this note, the occurence of Lipophris canevae at Arrábida (Portugal) is reported, which extends 160 Km north the known range ot this species in the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula. This species has been consistently found at Arrábida since 1987. The presence of a crest on the head of the males, which is considered a rare secondary sexual character in the Mediterranean populations, is very common in the specimens known from portuguese waters, even in the females, where it is vestigial. The meristic and morphometric data from specimens known from portuguese waters are summarized. At Arrábida, the nests occur in the midlittoral zone, often in the transition to the sublittoral, and remain out of water for several hours during low tide. Breeding takes place during Spring and Summer. ------ SUMÁRIO ----- Na presente nota, descreve-se a ocorrência Lipophris canevae na costa da Arrábida (Portugal), o que estende 160 Km para norte e distribuição conhecida para esta espécie na costa atlântica da Península Ibérica. A ocorrência desta espécie na Arrábida tem sido registada regularmente desde 1987. A presença de uma crista na cabeça dos machos, que para as populações mediterrânicas é considerada um carácter sexual secundário raro, ocorre com grande frequência nos espéciemens conhecudis das águas portuguesas, inclusive nas fêmeas embora nestas seja vestigial. Resumem-se os dados merísticos e morfométricos para os exemplares até agora capturados na costa portuguesa. Na Arrábida, os ninhos ocorrem no médio-litoral, por vezes na transição para o infra-litoral, e permanecem emersos durante várias horas na baixa-mar. A reprodução tem lugar na Primavera e Verão.
- Social odors conveying dominance and reproductive information induce rapid physiological and neuromolecular changes in a cichlid fishPublication . Simões, José Miguel; Barata, Eduardo Nuno; Harris, Rayna M.; O'Connell, Lauren A.; Hofmann, Hans A.Background: Social plasticity is a pervasive feature of animal behavior. Animals adjust the expression of their social behavior to the daily changes in social life and to transitions between life-history stages, and this ability has an impact in their Darwinian fitness. This behavioral plasticity may be achieved either by rewiring or by biochemically switching nodes of the neural network underlying social behavior in response to perceived social information. Independent of the proximate mechanisms, at the neuromolecular level social plasticity relies on the regulation of gene expression, such that different neurogenomic states emerge in response to different social stimuli and the switches between states are orchestrated by signaling pathways that interface the social environment and the genotype. Here, we test this hypothesis by characterizing the changes in the brain profile of gene expression in response to social odors in the Mozambique Tilapia, Oreochromis mossambicus. This species has a rich repertoire of social behaviors during which both visual and chemical information are conveyed to conspecifics. Specifically, dominant males increase their urination frequency during agonist encounters and during courtship to convey chemical information reflecting their dominance status. Results: We recorded electro-olfactograms to test the extent to which the olfactory epithelium can discriminate between olfactory information from dominant and subordinate males as well as from pre- and post-spawning females. We then performed a genome-scale gene expression analysis of the olfactory bulb and the olfactory cortex homolog in order to identify the neuromolecular systems involved in processing these social stimuli. Conclusions: Our results show that different olfactory stimuli from conspecifics’ have a major impact in the brain transcriptome, with different chemical social cues eliciting specific patterns of gene expression in the brain. These results confirm the role of rapid changes in gene expression in the brain as a genomic mechanism underlying behavioral plasticity and reinforce the idea of an extensive transcriptional plasticity of cichlid genomes, especially in response to rapid changes in their social environment.
- Some features of the territories in the breeding males of the intertidal blenny Lipophrys pholis (Pisces: Blenniidae)Publication . Almada, Vítor Carvalho; Gonçalves, Emanuel João; Oliveira, Rui Filipe; Barata, Eduardo NunoIn this paper we present data on the organization of the territories in males of Lipophrys pholis during the breeding season. Data were collected during high tides by skin- and scubadiving and during low tides by direct inspection of nests. Our study area was located at Arrébida, Portugal. The main results are: (i) The territories of the breeding males of this species are temporary, being established each breeding season, (ii) The guarding males stay in the nest holes with the egg masses while the tide is low and are subjected to several hours of emersion in each tidal cycle, (iii) Even when the nests are submerged the fishes stay inside the nest for an average of 92% of the time. All the activities performed outside the nest correspond to an average of 27 minutes per day. (iv) There was a low frequency of territorial intrusions. Conspecific intruders released a significantly higher frequency of agonistic responses than did Coryphoblennius galerita. (v) Removal experiments showed that vacated territories are not occupied by other males during the same breeding season, (vi) Without the presence of the guarding male the eggs are slowly destroyed by predation and infection, but some eggs can still survive and hatch up to five days after the removal of the parental male. The results are discussed in terms of the probable costs and benefits of breeding intertidally.
- The effect of nest aggregation on the reproductive behaviour of the peacock blenny Salaria pavoPublication . Saraiva, João Luis Vargas de Almeida; Barata, Eduardo Nuno; Canário, Adelino V. M.; Oliveira, Rui FilipeThe effect of nest aggregation in courtship behaviour was tested experimentally in an ecologically constrained, sex-role reversed population of the peacock blenny Salaria pavo. Mixed sex groups of eight males and eight females were tested in experimental tanks, containing eight potential nests either aggregated or dispersed. In the aggregated treatment, males spent more time inside their nests and monopolized other potential nests, causing a female-biased operational sex ratio (OSR). In the aggregated treatment, females also expressed more courtship behaviour. The results in general support the prediction that the aggregation of nests promotes male monopolization of potential nests, resulting in fewer nest-holding males and therefore a female-biased OSR that leads to the reversal of sex roles.
- The role of male visual and chemical cues on the activation of female courtship behaviour in the sex-role reversed peacock blennyPublication . Gonçalves, David; Barata, Eduardo Nuno; Canário, Adelino V. M.Chemical cues during courtship in peacock blenny Salaria pavo did not add significantly to the response of visual stimuli and females did not court when a male was not visible. The results showed that female S. pavo courtship behaviour was elicited exclusively by male visual features and not by a multicomponent signal in different sensory modalities. The time spent by females courting the male and exhibiting the nuptial colouration during visual trials correlated with the size of the male’s crest, suggesting a signalling function for this trait. Alternative hypothesis for the function of the putative pheromones released by the male’s anal gland are discussed. Evidence that female sexual motivation decreases towards the end of the breeding season is also provided, which should be considered in future mate choice experiments.