Predation risk may sculpt functional differences in identified brain neurons

FIORELLA MAGANI; TOMAS LUPPI; DANIEL TOMSIC

Washington DC

Congreso; Tenth International Congress of Neuroethology; 2012

International Society of Neuroethology

As a biological organ, the brain is ultimately committed to increase the animal?s fitness, by gathering and processing information and organizing the behavior that allows them to succeed in complex dynamic environments. Thus, the designs and functioning of an animal?s brain is assumed to be highly determined by selective ecological pressures. Previous studies on the crab Neohelice granulata identified brain neurons, termed LG, that proved to play a key role in the crab?s escape response to visual danger stimuli (VDS) representing a predator attack. Here we show that three different isolated populations of N. granulata, exposed to different risk of avian predation, present clear differences in their behavioral response to VDS. Populations exposed to higher risk showed stronger escape responses. Tests performed with other stimuli revealed no behavioral differences between them, thus ruling out an explanation of the response to the VDS in terms of unspecific effects. We performed in vivo intracellular recordings of the LG neurons? response to the VDS. Our results suggest that the behavioral differences between the populations are reflected by the performance of these neurons. These results represent a clear example of how ecological pressure shapes the functioning of individual neurons.