Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Discipline
-
- Animal Sciences (21)
- Animal Studies (18)
- Psychology (18)
- Other Animal Sciences (16)
- Animals (14)
-
- Comparative Psychology (14)
- Medicine and Health Sciences (14)
- Organisms (14)
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (7)
- Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology (6)
- Zoology (5)
- Arts and Humanities (4)
- Cognition and Perception (4)
- Cognitive Neuroscience (4)
- Ethics and Political Philosophy (4)
- Evolution (4)
- Neuroscience and Neurobiology (4)
- Philosophy (4)
- Philosophy of Mind (4)
- Anatomy (2)
- Animal Structures (2)
- Behavior and Ethology (2)
- Veterinary Anatomy (2)
- Veterinary Medicine (2)
- Environmental Studies (1)
- Population Biology (1)
- Keyword
-
- Fish (4)
- Personality (4)
- Habitat complexity (3)
- Intertidal gobies (3)
- Pain (3)
-
- Welfare (3)
- Boldness (2)
- Cue use (2)
- Ecology (2)
- Gobies (2)
- Habitat stability (2)
- Homing (2)
- Laterality (2)
- Lateralization (2)
- Learning (2)
- Sentience (2)
- Acoustic telemetry (1)
- Activity (1)
- Anti-predator behaviour (1)
- Aquaculture (1)
- Aquatic animal welfare; artificial intelligence; fish; pain; sentience (1)
- Aquatic animals (1)
- Assemblages (1)
- Associative learning (1)
- Benthic shark (1)
- Brain morphology (1)
- Brain size (1)
- Cerebral (1)
- Classical conditioning (1)
- Climate change (1)
Articles 1 - 22 of 22
Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Laterality Strength Is Linked To Stress Reactivity In Port Jackson Sharks (Heterodontus Portusjacksoni), Evan E. Byrnes, Catarina Vila Pouca, Culum Brown
Laterality Strength Is Linked To Stress Reactivity In Port Jackson Sharks (Heterodontus Portusjacksoni), Evan E. Byrnes, Catarina Vila Pouca, Culum Brown
Culum Brown, PhD
Cerebral lateralization is an evolutionarily deep-rooted trait, ubiquitous among the vertebrates and present even in some invertebrates. Despite the advantages of cerebral lateralization in enhancing cognition and facilitating greater social cohesion, large within population laterality variation exists in many animal species. It is proposed that this variation is maintained due links with inter-individual personality trait differences. Here we explored for lateralization in Port Jackson sharks (Heterodontus portusjacksoni) using T-maze turn and rotational swimming tasks. Additionally, we explored for a link between personality traits, boldness and stress reactivity, and cerebral lateralization. Sharks demonstrated large individual and sex biased laterality …
Malanda Gold: The Tale Of A Unique Rainbowfish From The Atherton Table-Lands, Now On The Verge Of Extinction., Peter J. Unmack, Keith Martin, Michael P. Hammer, Brendan Ebner, Karl Moy, Culum Brown
Malanda Gold: The Tale Of A Unique Rainbowfish From The Atherton Table-Lands, Now On The Verge Of Extinction., Peter J. Unmack, Keith Martin, Michael P. Hammer, Brendan Ebner, Karl Moy, Culum Brown
Culum Brown, PhD
No abstract provided.
Stress Profile Influences Learning Approach In A Marine Fish, Vincent Raoult, Larissa Trompf, Jane E. Williamson, Culum Brown
Stress Profile Influences Learning Approach In A Marine Fish, Vincent Raoult, Larissa Trompf, Jane E. Williamson, Culum Brown
Culum Brown, PhD
The spatial learning skills of high and low stress juvenile mulloway (Argyrosomus japonicus) were tested in a dichotomous choice apparatus. Groups of fish were formed based on background blood cortisol levels and required to learn the location of a food reward hidden in one of two compartments. Low stress fish characterised by low background levels of the stress hormone cortisol had higher activity levels and entered both rewarded and unrewarded rooms frequently. Within the first week of exposure, however, their preference for the rewarded room increased, indicative of learning. Fish that had high background levels of cortisol, in …
Does Detection Range Matter For Inferring Social Networks In A Benthic Shark Using Acoustic Telemetry?, Johann Mourier, Nathan Charles Bass, Tristan L. Guttridge, Joanna Day, Culum Brown
Does Detection Range Matter For Inferring Social Networks In A Benthic Shark Using Acoustic Telemetry?, Johann Mourier, Nathan Charles Bass, Tristan L. Guttridge, Joanna Day, Culum Brown
Culum Brown, PhD
Accurately estimating contacts between animals can be critical in ecological studies such as examining social structure, predator–prey interactions or transmission of information and disease. While biotelemetry has been used successfully for such studies in terrestrial systems, it is still under development in the aquatic environment. Acoustic telemetry represents an attractive tool to investigate spatio-temporal behaviour of marine fish and has recently been suggested for monitoring underwater animal interactions. To evaluate the effectiveness of acoustic telemetry in recording interindividual contacts, we compared co-occurrence matrices deduced from three types of acoustic receivers varying in detection range in a benthic shark species. Our …
Incubation Under Climatewarming Affects Behavioral Lateralisation In Port Jackson Sharks, Catarina Vila Pouca, Connor Gervais, Joshua Reed, Culum Brown
Incubation Under Climatewarming Affects Behavioral Lateralisation In Port Jackson Sharks, Catarina Vila Pouca, Connor Gervais, Joshua Reed, Culum Brown
Culum Brown, PhD
Climate change is warming the world’s oceans at an unprecedented rate. Under predicted end-of-century temperatures, many teleosts show impaired development and altered critical behaviors, including behavioral lateralisation. Since laterality is an expression of brain functional asymmetries, changes in the strength and direction of lateralisation suggest that rapid climate warming might impact brain development and function. However, despite the implications for cognitive functions, the potential effects of elevated temperature in lateralisation of elasmobranch fishes are unknown. We incubated and reared Port Jackson sharks at current and projected end-of-century temperatures and measured preferential detour responses to left or right. Sharks incubated at …
A Risk Assessment And Phylogenetic Approach, Culum Brown
A Risk Assessment And Phylogenetic Approach, Culum Brown
Culum Brown, PhD
The precautionary principal is often invoked when talking about the evidence of sentience in animals, largely because we can never be certain what any animal is thinking or feeling. Birch (2017) offers a preliminary framework for the use of the precautionary principal for animal sentience combining an epistemic rule with a decision rule. I extend this framework by adding an evolutionary phylogentic approach which spreads the burden of proof across broad taxonomic groups and a risk assessment component which magnifies the likely impact by the number of animals involved.
Ample Evidence For Fish Sentience And Pain, Lynne U. Sneddon, David C.C. Wolfenden, Matthew C. Leach, Ana M. Valentim, Peter J. Steenbergen, Nabila Bardine, Donald M. Broom, Culum Brown
Ample Evidence For Fish Sentience And Pain, Lynne U. Sneddon, David C.C. Wolfenden, Matthew C. Leach, Ana M. Valentim, Peter J. Steenbergen, Nabila Bardine, Donald M. Broom, Culum Brown
Culum Brown, PhD
The majority of commentaries are supportive of our position on the scepticism that muddies the waters surrounding fish pain and sentience. There is substantial empirical evidence for pain in fish. Animals’ experience of pain cannot be compared to artificial intelligence (AI) because AI can only mimic responses to nociceptive input on the basis of human observations and programming. Accepting that fish are sentient would not be detrimental to the industries reliant on fish. A more proactive discussion between scientists and stakeholders is needed to improve fish welfare for the benefit of all.
Fish Sentience Denial: Muddying The Waters, Lynne U. Sneddon, Javier Lopez-Luna, David C.C. Wolfenden, Matthew C. Leach, Ana M. Valentim, Peter J. Steenbergen, Nabila Bardine, Amanda D. Currie, Donald M. Broom, Culum Brown
Fish Sentience Denial: Muddying The Waters, Lynne U. Sneddon, Javier Lopez-Luna, David C.C. Wolfenden, Matthew C. Leach, Ana M. Valentim, Peter J. Steenbergen, Nabila Bardine, Amanda D. Currie, Donald M. Broom, Culum Brown
Culum Brown, PhD
Recent empirical studies have reported evidence that many aquatic species, including fish, cephalopods and crustaceans, have the capacity for nociception and pain, and that their welfare should be taken into consideration. Some sceptics, rejecting the precautionary principle, have denied that any study demonstrates pain or other aspects of sentience in fish. This target article discusses some of the scientific shortcomings of these critiques through a detailed analysis of a study exploring nociception and analgesia in larval zebrafish.
Microhabitat Use Affects Goby (Gobiidae) Cue Choice In Spatial Learning Task, G. E. White, C. Brown
Microhabitat Use Affects Goby (Gobiidae) Cue Choice In Spatial Learning Task, G. E. White, C. Brown
Culum Brown, PhD
This study investigated whether spatial learning ability and cue use of gobies (Gobiidae) from two contrasting habitats differed in a spatial task. Gobies were collected from the spatially complex rock pools and dynamic, homogenous sandy shores. Fishes were trained to locate a shelter under the simulated threat of predation and it was determined whether they used local or extra-maze (global) and geometric cues to do so. It was hypothesized that fishes from rock pools would outperform fishes from sandy shores in their ability to relocate shelter and the two groups would differ in their cue use. It was found that …
Predator Recognition And Responses In The Endangered Macquarie Perch (Macquaria Australasica), Culum Brown, Jennifer Morgan
Predator Recognition And Responses In The Endangered Macquarie Perch (Macquaria Australasica), Culum Brown, Jennifer Morgan
Culum Brown, PhD
Macquarie perch, Macquaria austalasica, is an endangered species endemic to southern Australia whose distribution is highly fragmented and continues to decline. Key threatening processes include habitat destruction, dams and weirs, overfishing and interactions with introduced species. Here, we examined the responses of small and large Macquarie perch to two native predators and to the introduced redfin perch, Perca fluviatilis. Our results showed that Macquarie perch generally avoided large-bodied native predators but was attracted to small-bodied native predators. Responses to large and small redfin perch lay between these two extremes, suggesting that the Macquarie perch does treat these foreign fish as …
Laterality Enhances Numerical Skills In The Guppy, Poecilia Reticulata, Marco Dadda, Christian Agrillo, Angelo Bisazza, Culum Brown
Laterality Enhances Numerical Skills In The Guppy, Poecilia Reticulata, Marco Dadda, Christian Agrillo, Angelo Bisazza, Culum Brown
Culum Brown, PhD
It has been hypothesized that cerebral lateralization can significantly enhance cognition and that this was one of the primary selective forces shaping its wide-spread evolution amongst vertebrate taxa. Here, we tested this hypothesis by examining the link between cerebral lateralization and numerical discrimination. Guppies, Poecilia reticulata, were sorted into left, right and non-lateralized groups using a standard mirror test and their numerical discrimination abilities tested in both natural shoal choice and abstract contexts. Our results show that strongly lateralized guppies have enhanced numerical abilities compared to non-lateralized guppies irrespective of context. These data provide further credence to the notion that …
A Comparison Of Spatial Learning And Memory Capabilities In Intertidal Gobies, Gemma E. White, Culum Brown
A Comparison Of Spatial Learning And Memory Capabilities In Intertidal Gobies, Gemma E. White, Culum Brown
Culum Brown, PhD
For the majority of animals, the ability to orient in familiar locations is a fundamental part of life, and spatial memory allows individuals to remember key locations such as food patches, shelter, mating sites or areas regularly occupied by predators. This study determined if gobies collected from rocky platforms and sandy beaches differ in their ability to learn and memorise the locations of tide pools in a simulated rocky intertidal zone. Intertidal rock pool gobies show acute homing abilities and, therefore, should be expected to display superior learning and memory capabilities. In contrast, it is unlikely that natural selection would …
Microhabitat Use Affects Brain Size And Structure In Intertidal Gobies, Gemma E. White, Culum Brown
Microhabitat Use Affects Brain Size And Structure In Intertidal Gobies, Gemma E. White, Culum Brown
Culum Brown, PhD
The ecological cognition hypothesis poses that the brains and behaviours of individuals are largely shaped by the environments in which they live and the associated challenges they must overcome during their lives. Here we examine the effect of environmental complexity on relative brain size in 4 species of intertidal gobies from differing habitats. Two species were rock pool specialists that lived on spatially complex rocky shores, while the remainder lived on dynamic, but structurally simple, sandy shores. We found that rock pool-dwelling species had relatively larger brains and telencephalons in particular, while sand-dwelling species had a larger optic tectum and …
Influence Of Rock-Pool Characteristics On The Distribution And Abundance Of Inter-Tidal Fishes, Gemma E. White, Grant C. Hose, Culum Brown
Influence Of Rock-Pool Characteristics On The Distribution And Abundance Of Inter-Tidal Fishes, Gemma E. White, Grant C. Hose, Culum Brown
Culum Brown, PhD
Rock pools can be found in inter-tidal marine environments worldwide; however, there have been few studies exploring what drives their, fish species composition, especially in Australia. The rock-pool environment is highly dynamic and offers a unique natural laboratory to study the habitat choices, physiological limitations and adaptations of inter-tidal fish species. In this study rock pools of the Sydney region were sampled to determine how the physical (volume, depth, rock cover and vertical position) and biological (algal cover and predator presence) parameters of pools influence fish distribution and abundance. A total of 27 fish species representing 14 families was observed …
Personality Affects Learning And Trade-Offs Between Private And Social Information In Guppies, Poecilia Reticulate, Larissa Trompf, Culum Brown
Personality Affects Learning And Trade-Offs Between Private And Social Information In Guppies, Poecilia Reticulate, Larissa Trompf, Culum Brown
Culum Brown, PhD
The acquisition of information such as the location and quality of food, mates or shelter is a key survival requirement for animals. Individuals can acquire information through personal experience (private information) or through observing and interacting with others (social information). Environmental spatial and temporal heterogeneity can mean that sometimes social information conflicts with private knowledge. We tested how personality affected the importance placed on public versus private information in wild female guppies when these two information sources came into conflict. We found that boldness and sociality affected decisions to use conflicting social and private information. Bolder females used social information …
Variation In Brain Morphology Of Intertidal Gobies: A Comparison Of Methodologies Used To Quantitatively Assess Brain Volumes In Fish, Gemma E. White, Culum Brown
Variation In Brain Morphology Of Intertidal Gobies: A Comparison Of Methodologies Used To Quantitatively Assess Brain Volumes In Fish, Gemma E. White, Culum Brown
Culum Brown, PhD
When correlating brain size and structure with behavioural and environmental characteristics, a range of techniques can be utilised. This study used gobiid fishes to quantitatively compare brain volumes obtained via three different methods; these included the commonly used techniques of histology and approximating brain volume to an idealised ellipsoid, and the recently established technique of X-ray micro-computed tomography (micro-CT). It was found that all three methods differed significantly from one another in their volume estimates for most brain lobes. The ellipsoid method was prone to over- or under-estimation of lobe size, histology caused shrinkage in the telencephalon, and although micro-CT …
Learning And Memory In The Port Jackson Shark, Heterodontus Portusjacksoni, Tristan L. Guttridge, Culum Brown
Learning And Memory In The Port Jackson Shark, Heterodontus Portusjacksoni, Tristan L. Guttridge, Culum Brown
Culum Brown, PhD
Basic understanding of the fundamental principles and mechanisms involved in learning is lacking for elasmobranch fishes. Our aim in this study was to experimentally investigate the learning and memory capacity of juvenile Port Jackson sharks, Heterodontus portusjacksoni. Sharks (N = 30) were conditioned over a 19-day period to associate an underwater LED light or stream of air-bubbles [conditioned stimulus (CS)] with a food reward [unconditioned stimulus (US)], using three procedures (delay, trace and control). During experiments, the CS signalled at a random time between 180 and 300 s for 30 s (six times per day). For the delay the US …
Fish Intelligence, Sentience And Ethics, Culum Brown
Fish Intelligence, Sentience And Ethics, Culum Brown
Culum Brown, PhD
Fish are one of the most highly utilised vertebrate taxa by humans; they are harvested from wild stocks as part of global fishing industries, grown under intensive aquaculture conditions, are the most common pet and are widely used for scientific research. But fish are seldom afforded the same level of compassion or welfare as warm-blooded vertebrates. Part of the problem is the large gap between people’s perception of fish intelligence and the scientific reality. This is an important issue because public perception guides government policy. The perception of an animal’s intelligence often drives our decision whether or not to include …
Laterality Is Linked To Personality In The Black-Lined Rainbowfish, Melanotaenia Nigrans, Culum Brown, Anne-Laurence Bibost
Laterality Is Linked To Personality In The Black-Lined Rainbowfish, Melanotaenia Nigrans, Culum Brown, Anne-Laurence Bibost
Culum Brown, PhD
Emotions such as fear in vertebrates are often strongly lateralised, that is, a single cerebral hemisphere tends to be dominant when processing emotive stimuli. Boldness is a measure of an individual’s propensity to take risks and it has obvious connections with fear responses. Given the emotive nature of this well-studied personality trait, there is good reason to suspect that it is also likely to be expressed in a single hemisphere. Here, we examined the link between laterality and boldness in wild and captive-reared rainbowfish, Melanotaenia nigrans. We found that fish from the wild were bolder than those from captivity, which …
Laterality Influences Cognitive Performance In Rainbowfish Melanotaenia Duboulayi, Anne-Laurence Bibost, Culum Brown
Laterality Influences Cognitive Performance In Rainbowfish Melanotaenia Duboulayi, Anne-Laurence Bibost, Culum Brown
Culum Brown, PhD
Cerebral lateralization has been suggested to convey a selective advantage to individuals by enhancing their cognitive abilities. Few, however, have explicitly compared the cognitive ability of animals with strongly contrasting laterality. Here, we examined the influence of laterality on learning performance in the crimson spotted rainbowfish, Melanotaenia duboulayi, using a classical conditioning paradigm. We also compared the learning ability of wild caught and captive-reared fish to examine the influence of rearing environment on cognitive performance. Laterality was established by observing which eye fish preferred to use while viewing their mirror image. Subjects were then conditioned to associate the appearance of …
Cue Choice And Spatial Learning Ability Are Affected By Habitat Complexity In Intertidal Gobies, Gemma E. White, Culum Brown
Cue Choice And Spatial Learning Ability Are Affected By Habitat Complexity In Intertidal Gobies, Gemma E. White, Culum Brown
Culum Brown, PhD
Variation in the structural complexity of a habitat is known to have significant affects on the evolution of different populations and can shape behavior, morphology, and life-history traits. Here, we investigated whether habitat complexity influences a species’ capacity for spatial learning and cue choice by comparing the performance of 4 goby species from 2 contrasting habitats in a spatial task. Gobies were collected from dynamic, homogenous sandy shores and stable, spatially complex rock pool habitats. We trained fish to use a T-maze to find a hidden reward and asked whether they used local visual landmarks or body-centered methods for orientation …
Fish Pain: An Inconvenient Truth, Culum Brown
Fish Pain: An Inconvenient Truth, Culum Brown
Culum Brown, PhD
Whether fish feel pain is a hot political topic. The consequences of our denial are huge given the billions of fish that are slaughtered annually for human consumption. The economic costs of changing our commercial fishery harvest practices are also likely to be great. Key outlines a structure-function analogy of pain in humans, tries to force that template on the rest of the vertebrate kingdom, and fails. His target article has so far elicited 34 commentaries from scientific experts from a broad range of disciplines; only three of these support his position. The broad consensus from the scientific community is …