Data from: Turbidity drives plasticity in the eyes and brains of an African cichlid
Data files
Apr 02, 2024 version files 19.66 KB
-
rawdata.csv
-
README.md
-
standardizeddata.csv
Abstract
Natural variation in environmental turbidity correlates with variation in the visual sensory system of many fishes, suggesting that turbidity may act as a strong selective agent on visual systems. Since many aquatic systems experience increased turbidity due to anthropogenic perturbations, it is important to understand the degree to which fish can respond to rapid shifts in their visual environment, and whether such responses can occur within the lifetime of an individual. We examined if developmental exposure to turbidity (Clear <5 NTU, Turbid ~9 NTU) influenced the size of morphological structures associated with vision in the African cichlid Pseudocrenilabrus multicolor. Parental fish were collected from two sites (clear swamp, turbid river) in western Uganda. F1 broods from each population were split and reared under clear and turbid rearing treatments until maturity. We measured morphological traits associated with the visual sensory system (eye diameter, pupil diameter, axial length, brain mass, optic tectum volume) over the course of development. Age was significant in explaining variation in visual traits even when standardized for body size, suggesting an ontogenetic shift in the relative size of eyes and brains. When age groups were analyzed separately, young fish reared in turbid water grew larger eyes than fish reared in clear conditions. Population was important in the older age category, with swamp-origin fish having relatively larger eyes and optic lobes relative to river-origin fish. Plastic responses during development of fish may be important in responding to a more variable visual environment associated with anthropogenically induced turbidity.
README: Data from: Turbidity drives plasticity in the eyes and brains of an African cichlid
This file contains metadata for two files used in five Rscripts associated with this manuscript.
README: rawdata.xlsx used in sizestd.R, biometric-table-cichlid.R
All code is provided for the analyses as described in the manuscript.
Pseudocrenilabrus multicolor (haplochromine cichlid fish) were collected from two sites in western Uganda and used as the parental population for a experiment that looked at visual morphology in response to rearing treatment (clear vs. turbid) over development. Each row in the dataset represents metrics for a single fish.
Variable Description
ID individual number assigned to each fish
Population coded for variable for each Population (1=River, 2=Swamp)
Rearing coded for variable for rearing treatment (1=Turbid, 2=Clear)
Brood brood identifier
Age age of fish in days
SL standard length of fish (mm)
Weight mass of fish (g)
ED eye diameter (mm)
PD pupil diameter (mm)
AX axial length (mm)
BW brain weight (mg)
OT optic tectum volume (mm3)
Final_age_group final age group used in analysis (young, old)
README: standardizeddata.csv used in brain-eye-cichlid-analysis.R, rxn-norms-cichlid-figure.R, pca-cichlid-analysis.R
All code is provided for the analyses as described in the manuscript.
Pseudocrenilabrus multicolor (haplochromine cichlid fish) were collected from two sites in western Uganda and used as the parental population for a experiment that looked at visual morphology in response to rearing treatment (clear vs. turbid) over development. Each row in the dataset represents metrics for a single fish.
Variable Description
ID individual number assigned to each fish
Population coded for variable for each Population (1=River, 2=Swamp)
Rearing coded for variable for rearing treatment (1=Turbid, 2=Clear)
Brood brood identifier
Age age of fish in days
Age_group age group broken into 4 categories (youngest, young, old, oldest)
SL standard length of fish (mm)
ED_std eye diameter (mm) standardized to standard length
PD_std pupil diameter (mm) standardized to standard length
AX_std axial length (mm) standardized to standard length
BW_std brain weight (mg) standardized to standard length
OT_std optic tectum volume (mm3) standardized to brain weight
Final_age_group final age group used in analysis (young, old)