School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.
Integr Comp Biol. 2020 Jul 1;60(1):33-42. doi: 10.1093/icb/icaa036.
Animals can shift their reliance on different sensory modalities in response to environmental conditions, and knowing the degree to which traits are reversible may help us to predict their chances of survival in a changing environment. Here, using adult zebrafish (Danio rerio), we found that 6 weeks in different light environments alone were sufficient to shift whether fish approached visual or chemical cues first, and that a subsequent reversal of lighting conditions also reversed their sensory preferences. In addition, we measured simple behavioral responses to sensory stimuli presented alone, and found that zebrafish housed in dim light for 6 weeks responded weakly to an optomotor assay, but strongly to an olfactory cue, whereas fish experiencing bright light for 6 weeks responded strongly to the visual optomotor stimulus and weakly in an olfactory assay. Visual and olfactory responses were equally reversible, and shifted to the opposite pattern when we reversed lighting conditions for 6 weeks. In contrast, we did not find a change in activity level, suggesting that changes in multiple sensory modalities can buffer animals from changes in more complex forms of behavior. This reversal of sensory response provides insight into how animals may use sensory shifts to keep up with environmental change.
动物可以根据环境条件改变对不同感觉模态的依赖程度，了解特征的可逆程度可能有助于我们预测它们在不断变化的环境中的生存机会。在这里，我们使用成年斑马鱼（Danio rerio）发现，仅在不同的光照环境中生活 6 周就足以改变鱼类首先接近视觉还是化学线索，并且随后光照条件的逆转也会逆转它们的感官偏好。此外，我们测量了对单独呈现的感觉刺激的简单行为反应，发现在昏暗光线下饲养 6 周的斑马鱼对光感觉测试的反应较弱，但对嗅觉线索的反应较强，而在明亮光线下饲养 6 周的斑马鱼对视觉光感觉刺激的反应较强，而在嗅觉测试中反应较弱。视觉和嗅觉反应同样具有可逆性，当我们将光照条件逆转 6 周时，反应模式也会发生相反的变化。相比之下，我们没有发现活动水平的变化，这表明多种感觉模态的变化可以使动物免受更复杂形式的行为变化的影响。这种感觉反应的逆转为我们提供了有关动物如何利用感觉转变来适应环境变化的见解。
