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Boldness, activity, and aggression: Insights from a large-scale study in Baltic salmon (Salmo salar L)
Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Medicine and Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Cell Biology, Research group Svante Winberg.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-6753-6457
Division of Anatomy and Physiology, Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-5778-9530
Department of Aquatic Resources, Swedish University of Agriculture, Uppsala.
Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Medicine and Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Cell Biology, Research group Svante Winberg. Swedish Univ Agr Sci, Dept Anat Physiol & Biochem, Div Anat & Physiol, Uppsala, Sweden..ORCID iD: 0000-0003-4252-3144
2023 (English)In: PLOS ONE, E-ISSN 1932-6203, Vol. 18, no 7, article id e0287836Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) display high levels of agonistic behavior in aquaculture farms, resulting in fin damage and chronic stress. Aggression affects fish growth and performance negatively and presents a serious welfare problem. Indeed, it would be beneficial to identify, separate or exclude overly aggressive individuals. Research on behavioral syndromes suggests that aggressive behavior may correlate with traits from other contexts, such as boldness and locomotory activity. We aimed to develop a high-throughput method to quantify and predict aggressive behavior of individual parr in hatchery-reared Baltic salmon (Salmo salar L.). We screened approximately 2000 parr in open field (OF) and mirror image stimulation (MIS) tests. We extracted seven variables from video tracking software for each minute of the tests; distance moved and duration moving (activity), the duration in and number of entries to the center of the arena (boldness), the distance moved in, and duration spent in the area adjacent to the mirror during the MIS test (aggressiveness) and head direction (lateralization). To investigate the relationship between activity, boldness, and aggression we first correlated the first six variables to one another. Second, we assigned individuals to high, medium, low or zero aggression groups based on the MIS test and quantified activity and boldness in each group. Third, we analyzed whether the fish viewed the mirror with the left or right eye. Our results show that medium and low aggressive fish were the most active, while highly aggressive fish showed average activity. Aggressive groups did not differ in boldness. Activity and boldness were positively correlated. Finally, we detected a preference for fish to view the mirror with the left eye. We conclude that although the OF may not accurately predict aggressive behavior, the MIS test can be used for large-scale aggression profiling of juvenile salmon

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2023. Vol. 18, no 7, article id e0287836
Keywords [en]
Behavior, Aggression, Mirror test, Lateralization, Boldness, Salmo salar
National Category
Neurosciences
Research subject
Medical Science
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-486676DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0287836ISI: 001035045000091PubMedID: 37471414OAI: oai:DiVA.org:uu-486676DiVA, id: diva2:1703662
Funder
Swedish Research Council Formas, ANIHWA 2014-01842Swedish Research Council, VR 2017-03779Available from: 2022-10-14 Created: 2022-10-14 Last updated: 2023-09-04Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. Intraspecific divergence and phenotypic plasticity in behavioural profiles of teleost fish
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Intraspecific divergence and phenotypic plasticity in behavioural profiles of teleost fish
2022 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Behavioural differences between and within individuals can greatly affect the outcome of behavioural studies. In addition, behavioural interactions between individuals can compromise the health and welfare of captive fish. In paper I, I investigate the relationship between locomotory activity, boldness and aggressive behaviour in ~2000 hatchery-reared Baltic salmon parr (Salmo salar L), with the aim to predict aggression level from activity and boldness displayed in the open field test. We found that activity and boldness were positively correlated while they were not correlated with aggression level measured in the mirror stimulation test. Surprisingly, medium and low aggressive fish were the most active, while highly aggressive fish showed only average activity. We conclude that the open field test, although efficient, does not accurately predict aggressive behaviour. However, the mirror stimulation test can be used for high-throughput aggression profiling of juvenile salmon. In paper II, I tested a subset of the salmon parr for a second time, to quantify behavioural consistency between trials and to investigate if phenotypic plasticity was related to aggression level. Our results show that activity was the most stable behavioural variable between trials. Even though aggression was not consistent between tests, we found that the fish displaying a low level of aggression in the first test were less consistent in their behaviour than highly aggressive fish. In paper III, we compared the behavioural development of zebrafish larvae of two strains, the AB strain and 5th generation offspring of wild-caught zebrafish from India. Individual larvae were screened for activity and boldness at the age of 5-, 7-, 12- and 30-days post fertilization using an open field test with alternating light and dark cycles. Furthermore, we analysed mRNA expression of genes encoding serotonin, dopamine, galanin and opioid receptor subunits, as well the peptide neurotransmitter spexin in whole brain samples from juveniles, with the aim to investigate potential neuroendocrine mechanisms of divergent behavioural profiles. Our results show that larvae from the wild strain had higher activity and greater variance in their behaviour than AB larvae, under both light and dark conditions. Wild larvae also had significantly higher expression of dopamine receptor subunit drd2b at 30 days post fertilization, a difference that could be related to difference in activity. In conclusion, the results presented in this thesis contribute to our understanding of animal behavioural profiles, at both an intraspecific and intraindividual level. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, 2022. p. 52
Series
Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Medicine, ISSN 1651-6206 ; 1878
Keywords
animal personality, phenotypic plasticity, Salmo salar, Danio rerio, activity, boldness, aggression.
National Category
Behavioral Sciences Biology Zoology
Research subject
Biology with specialization in Comparative Physiology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-486719 (URN)978-91-513-1630-7 (ISBN)
Public defence
2022-12-02, B22, BMC, Husargatan 3,751 23 Uppsala, Uppsala, 09:15 (English)
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Zoom länk för avhandling: 

https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/69884584393

Available from: 2022-11-11 Created: 2022-10-14 Last updated: 2022-11-11

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