Título : Electrocommunication in pulse Gymnotiformes: the role of electric organ discharge (EOD) time course in species identification
Autor(es) : Waddell, J.C.
Caputi, A.A.
Fecha de publicación : 7-jul-2020
Tipo de publicación: Artículo
Versión: Publicado
Publicado por: The Company of Biologists Ltd
Publicado en: Journal of Experimental Biology
Areas del conocimiento : Ciencias Médicas y de la Salud
Medicina Básica
Neurociencias
Otros descriptores : Field lines tracking
Navigation
Phase encoding
Syntopic species
Gymnotus omarorum
Brachyhypopomus gauderio
Electroreception
Resumen : Understanding how individuals detect and recognize signals emitted by conspecifics is fundamental to discussions of animal communication. The species pair Gymnotus omarorum and Brachyhypopomus gauderio, found in syntopy in Uruguay, emit species-specific electric organ discharge (EOD) that can be sensed by both species. The aim of this study was to unveil whether either of these species is able to identify a conspecific EOD, and to investigate distinctive recognition signal features. We designed a forced-choice experiment using a natural behavior (i.e. tracking electric field lines towards their source) in which each fish had to choose between a conspecific and a heterospecific electric field. We found a clear pattern of preference for a conspecific waveform even when pulses were played within 1 Hz of the same rate. By manipulating the time course of the explored signals, we found that the signal features for preference between conspecific and heterospecific waveforms were embedded in the time course of the signals. This study provides evidence that pulse Gymnotiformes can recognize a conspecific exclusively through species-specific electrosensory signals. It also suggests that the key signal features for species differentiation are probably encoded by burst coder electroreceptors. Given these results, and because receptors are sharply tuned to amplitude spectra and also tuned to phase spectra, we extend the electric color hypothesis used in the evaluation of objects to apply to communication signals.
URI / Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12381/3538
DOI: 10.1242/jeb.226340
Institución responsable del proyecto: Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable
Financiadores: Agencia Nacional de Investigación e Innovación
Identificador ANII: FCE_1_2019_1_155541
Nivel de Acceso: Acceso abierto
Licencia CC: Reconocimiento-NoComercial-SinObraDerivada 4.0 Internacional. (CC BY-NC-ND)
Aparece en las colecciones: Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable

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