University of Nebraska - Lincoln, School of Biological Sciences, NE, USA.
University of Greifswald, Zoologisches Institut und Museum, Germany.
Sci Rep. 2017 Apr 21;7:46627. doi: 10.1038/srep46627.
The interplay between an animal's environmental niche and its behavior can influence the evolutionary form and function of its sensory systems. While intraspecific variation in sensory systems has been documented across distant taxa, fewer studies have investigated how changes in behavior might relate to plasticity in sensory systems across developmental time. To investigate the relationships among behavior, peripheral sensory structures, and central processing regions in the brain, we take advantage of a dramatic within-species shift of behavior in a nocturnal, net-casting spider (Deinopis spinosa), where males cease visually-mediated foraging upon maturation. We compared eye diameters and brain region volumes across sex and life stage, the latter through micro-computed X-ray tomography. We show that mature males possess altered peripheral visual morphology when compared to their juvenile counterparts, as well as juvenile and mature females. Matching peripheral sensory structure modifications, we uncovered differences in relative investment in both lower-order and higher-order processing regions in the brain responsible for visual processing. Our study provides evidence for sensory system plasticity when individuals dramatically change behavior across life stages, uncovering new avenues of inquiry focusing on altered reliance of specific sensory information when entering a new behavioral niche.
动物的生态位与其行为之间的相互作用会影响其感觉系统的进化形式和功能。虽然已经在不同的分类群中记录了感觉系统的种内变异，但很少有研究调查行为的变化如何与跨发育时间的感觉系统的可塑性相关。为了研究行为、外周感觉结构和大脑中枢处理区域之间的关系，我们利用一种夜间结网蜘蛛（Deinopis spinosa）的种内行为的显著变化来进行研究，这种蜘蛛在成熟后停止了视觉介导的觅食。我们比较了不同性别和生命阶段的眼睛直径和脑区体积，后者通过微计算机断层扫描来实现。我们发现，与幼年个体相比，成熟雄性蜘蛛的外周视觉形态发生了改变，而幼年和成熟雌性个体则没有。与外周感觉结构的改变相匹配，我们发现了负责视觉处理的大脑中低阶和高阶处理区域的相对投资差异。我们的研究提供了个体在生命阶段发生巨大变化时感觉系统可塑性的证据，揭示了新的研究途径，重点关注进入新行为生态位时对特定感觉信息的依赖改变。
