Environmental impacts on visual perception modulate behavioral responses of schooling fish to looming predators
Data files
Mar 11, 2024 version files 1.55 MB
-
Means_Data_(All_School).csv
11.19 KB
-
README.md
2.12 KB
-
Time_Series_Data_(Angle).csv
473.22 KB
-
Time_Series_Data_(Correlation_Length).csv
45.62 KB
-
Time_Series_Data_(NND).csv
477.03 KB
-
Time_Series_Data_(Polarization).csv
60.56 KB
-
Time_Series_Data_(Speed).csv
476.68 KB
Abstract
Aggregation in socially living fishes has evolved to improve safety from predators. The individual interaction mechanisms that govern collective behavior are determined by the sensory systems that translate environmental information into behavior. In dynamic environments, shifts in conditions impede effective visual sensory perception in fish schools and may induce changes in the collective response. Here, we consider whether environmental conditions that affect visual contrast modulate the collective response of schools to looming predators. By using a virtual environment to simulate four contrast levels, we tested whether the collective state of fish schools was modified in response to a looming optical stimulus. Our results indicate that fish swam slower and were less polarized in lower contrast conditions. Additionally, schooling metrics known to be regulated by non-visual sensory systems became more correlated with decreasing contrast. Over the course of the escape response, schools remained tightly formed and retained the capability of transferring social information. Results suggest that when visual perception is compromised, the interaction rules governing collective behavior are modified to prioritize ancillary sensory information crucial to maximizing the chance of escape. Finally, these results imply that multiple sensory systems can integrate to control collective behavior in environments with unreliable visual information.
This dataset consists of the quantified schooling behavior metrics for each experimental trial where the looming stimulus approaches the fish school within the Holocube virtual arena.
-
The species studied in these results is fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas)
-
A trial consists of the looming stimulus expanding from one face of the Holocube, passing through the arena, and contracting on the opposite side.
-
Both mean values of each schooling metric, as well as time series data over the behavioral response interval are included for each trial.
-
Trials were performed at four different environmental contrast levels: high, medium-high, medium-low, and low.
Data and File Structure Description
Two main data files are included:
1) Means Data: This dataset contains the quantified schooling behavior parameters (nearest neighbor distance, Angle to the nearest neighbor, speed, polarization, correlation length) at the given contrast level. The school population sampled in the trial has been annotated to account for the potential random effect.
Abbreviations:
- NND - Nearest Neighbor Distance Angle
- Nearest Neighbor Angle
- CorrLength - Correlation Length
- PopNum - Population Number
2) Time Series Data: This dataset, tabulated separately in five separate files, contains the quantified schooling behavior parameters (nearest neighbor distance, Angle to the nearest neighbor, speed, polarization, correlation length) at the given contrast level for each time step in the behavioral response interval. The parameter quantified is called out in the title of each file in parenthesis as such: Time Series Data (Parameter Name).csv
Abbreviations:
- variable - time step in the behavioral response interval, quantified as a categorical variable. Example: X1 signifies time step 1 in the response, out of 10 total time steps for every trial. (X1-X10)
- value - quantified parameter value denoted in the csv title (units are respective for each parameter)