Tsuboko-Ishii Satomi, Burton Ronald S
Marine Biology Research Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego;
Marine Biology Research Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego.
J Vis Exp. 2018 Sep 26(139):58378. doi: 10.3791/58378.
Copepods of the genus Tigriopus, which are common zooplankton in rocky tide pools, show precopulatory mate-guarding behavior where a male clasps a potential mate to form a pair. While this phenomenon has attracted interest of researchers, methods for its analysis have not been well described. Here we describe procedures for: 1) individual culturing and staging of Tigriopus juveniles and adults, and 2) video-based analysis of their mate-guarding behavior. The culturing method enables experimental control of paring experience of animals as well as the ability to track their development before behavioral tests. The analysis method allows quantitative evaluation of several aspects of the mate-guarding behavior, including capturing attempts by males and swimming trajectory of mate-guarding pairs. Although these methods were originally established for ethological studies on Tigriopus, with proper modifications they can also be applied to studies of other zooplankton in different research fields, such as physiology, toxicology, and ecological genetics.
虎斑猛水蚤属的桡足类动物是岩礁潮间带常见的浮游动物，它们表现出交配前的配偶守护行为，即雄性会抱住潜在配偶形成一对。虽然这一现象引起了研究人员的兴趣，但对其进行分析的方法尚未得到充分描述。在此，我们描述了以下程序：1）虎斑猛水蚤幼体和成体的个体培养与阶段划分，以及2）基于视频的配偶守护行为分析。这种培养方法能够对动物的配对经验进行实验控制，并且能够在行为测试之前追踪它们的发育情况。该分析方法可以对配偶守护行为的几个方面进行定量评估，包括雄性的捕捉尝试以及配偶守护对的游动轨迹。尽管这些方法最初是为虎斑猛水蚤的行为学研究而建立的，但经过适当修改后，它们也可应用于不同研究领域中其他浮游动物的研究，如生理学、毒理学和生态遗传学。
