%0 Journal Article
%T Sensory Systems and Environmental Change on Behavior during Social Interactions
%A S. M. Bierbower
%A J. Nadolski
%A R. L. Cooper
%J International Journal of Zoology
%D 2013
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2013/573802
%X The impact of environmental conditions for transmitting sensory cues and the ability of crayfish to utilize olfaction and vision were examined in regards to social interactive behavior. The duration and intensity of interactions were examined for conspecific crayfish with different sensory abilities. Normally, vision and chemosensory have roles in agonistic communication of Procambarus clarkii; however, for the blind cave crayfish (Orconectes australis packardi), that lack visual capabilities, olfaction is assumed to be the primary sensory modality. To test this, we paired conspecifics in water and out of water in the presence and absence of white light to examine interactive behaviors when these various sensory modalities are altered. For sighted crayfish, in white light, interactions occurred and escalated; however, when the water was removed, interactions and aggressiveness decreased, but, there was an increase in visual displays out of the water. The loss of olfaction abilities for blind cave and sighted crayfish produced fewer social interactions. The importance of environmental conditions is illustrated for social interactions among sighted and blind crayfish. Importantly, this study shows the relevance in the ecological arena in nature for species survival and how environmental changes disrupt innate behaviors. 1. Introduction Social relationships may take many forms when organisms live in a group, and often times, the individuals must determine their status within a social structure [1¨C3]. Social dominance is a form of a social relationship in which individuals aggressively interact repeatedly. The interaction between individuals is a well-studied sequential series of interactions, with each individual having the option of terminating or continuing the interaction/contest at any time. The consequence of these interactions most likely results in a dominant individual who repeatedly wins encounters against a subordinate [3]. Therefore, agonistic encounters will generally establish social hierarchies between individuals in a population [4¨C9]. Dominance hierarchies are known to decrease aggressive interactions between individuals based upon social status, therefore stabilizing the population over time [10, 11]. Smith [12] suggests that rank may be a strategy individuals adopt to maximize fitness in the population based upon the role of other individuals. This correlates with the established Barnard and Sibly [13] producer-scrounger game in which mixes of strategies work better than all one or the other of a specific strategy. There are obvious
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijz/2013/573802/