William J. Rowland
Abstracts of Selected Publications

ABSTRACT
When female three-spined sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus, were presented simultaneously two video playbacks of a courting male, one playback displayed in colour and the other in greytone, the female approached and attempted to follow both displays. Females that responded strongly to playback of the male clearly preferred the coloured display, whereas those that responded less showed no consistent preference for coloured or greytoned displays. Females showed some approach to playback of a non-reproductive female but did not prefer the coloured over the greytoned one. These results suggest that the female's sexual motivation influences the mechanism(s) mediating her attraction to nuptially coloured males. Although highly motivated animals may typically show reduced selectivity in successive choice situations, they appeared to be more selective in the simultaneous choice situation studied here, perhaps because they attend more to male nuptial coloration, or because they become less fearful of brightly coloured males. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of video playback for investigating the role of visual cues in stickleback behaviour. They also emphasize the value of considering motivational factors in studies on sexual selection, and especially, when designing or interpreting experiments on mate choice.
© 1995 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour

SUMMARY
Reproductive [male] and [female] threespine stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus were presented with a videotaped sequence of a zigzag dancing [male] played back at normal (T), half (0.5T), one-and-a-half (1.5T), double (2T) and triple (3T) tempo. Playbacks were displayed pairwise (T/0.5T; T/1.5T; T/2T; T/3T) on monitors placed at opposite ends of the test tank. Each playback pair was displayed to subjects for 4 min to control for position preference. Both [male] and [female] subjects responded to playback images much like they do to live [males], demonstrating the potential of video playback for analysing visual communication in stickleback. Male and [female] subjects contacted o.5T and 2T images as much as images moving at normal tempo but they contacted 0.5T and 3T images less. Thus, subjects were more attracted to [males] displaying at normal to slightly faster tempo than to [males] displaying outside that range. The stabilizing selection that such effects might impose on animals could contribute to the typical intensity that characterizes much of their display behaviour.

ABSTRACT
Male threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) prefer to court the more gravid of a pair of dummy females (Rowland 1982, 1989). In this study, males were trained to modify their courtship preferences. Males were given two pre-punishment preference trials during which two dummy females -- one approximating a normally gravid female and the other, a supergravid female, possessing an abnormally large abdomen -- were simultaneously presented to males. After pre-punishment trials, males were subjected to one of two punishment procedures: Punishment with weak electric shock (Experiment I) or punishment by the removal of females to simulate female retreat (Experiment II). During punishment trials, males were punished each time they courted the supergravid dummy. Control males were subjected to identical trials, but were not punished for courting the supergravid dummy. Post-punishment preference trials were given to all males (Experiments I and II). The results of Experiments I and II were similar. Punished and control males did not differ in their courtship preferences in pre-punishment trials; they preferred to court the supergravid dummy. Punished males, however, spent a significantly lower proportion of time visiting and directed s smaller proportion of zigzags (a courtship display) toward the supergravid dummy than did control males during punishment training (Experiment I) and post-punishment preference trials (Experiments I and II). These results suggest that courtship preferences of male threespine stickebacks can be modified through learning. Such a mechanism could be important for adaptive mate choice under natural conditions.
© 1997 Blackwell Wissenschafts-Verlag, Berlin

ABSTRACT
This paper review the variety of approaches available to fish ethologists to study the role of visual cues in fish behavior. Examples of studies that have used live fish, mirror images, dummies (i.e. models) or video playback as stimuli to investigate fish behavior are described and discussed. These examples represent a diversity of functional categories of behavior exhibited by fishes, including aggression, courtship, aggregation or schooling behavior, parent-offspring, predator-prey, and cleaner-host interactions. The specific techniques that fish biologists have used to control or manipulate body shape, size, posture, morphological structures, color, marking patterns, or movement are systematically discussed, and the importance of each of these visual features to fish behavior is documented through examples. Studies that have used these techniques to investigate the interaction between visual and nonvisual cues are also considered. Each section encompassing a general experimental approach ends with a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of that approach for studying fish behavior.

ABSTRACT
Although Tinbergen found that red nuptial coloration of male three-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, elicited attack by other males, subsequent researchers have had difficulty replicating his results (Tinbergen 1948, Wilson Bull. 60, 6-51; 1951, The Study of Instinct. Oxford: Oxford University Press). Rowland et al. (1995, Anim. Behav., 50, 267-272) found that males tested in neutral tanks attacked a moderately coloured video image of a conspecific male more than either a bright or dull image in simultaneous presentations. These results suggest that a dual-effect process representing an interaction between aggression and fear might determine attack response. Based on this hypothesis, males tested in home tanks should attack the video images more than males tested in neutral tanks and should attack the brighter images most because their attack:fear ration is higher. Males in their own territories spent more time attacking video images than males in neutral tanks. Males in their own territories also spent more time attacking the brighter image than they spent attacking either the moderate or the dull image. These results demonstrate the influence of spatial location on the response of male stickleback to rivals. Furthermore, a dual-effect model provides a heuristic tool for understanding the agonistic behavior of male stickleback.
© 1996 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour

ABSTRACT
The red coloration of male stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) possesses signal value in male-male interactions. Therefore, it was predicted that males would learn to associate a red signal more readily than a green signal with a conspecific rival in a Pavlovian conditioning experiment. Males were presented red and green signal lights where one signal was always paired with the presentation of a rival (excitatory conditioned stimulus, CS+) and one signal was never paired with presentation of rival (nonreinforced stimulus, CS-). Males learned the task rapidly, showing conditioned approach and zigzag responses, but CS+ vs. CS- differentiation presisted, even after a prolonged extinction period. In addition there were no differences in learning rates between fish trained to the red signal as the CS+ and fish trained to the green signal as the CS+. The results suggest that, although males may rapidly learn about rivals, they are not predisposed to associate red (over green) with the appearance of a rival under the conditions of this experiment. Because males must establish and maintain territories in order to next and mate, learning about neighboring rivals may be an adaptive mechanism by which males more effectively defend their territories and thereby increase their reproductive fitness.
© 1996 by the American Psychological Association, Inc.

| Faculty   | Adjunct Faculty   | Postdoc/Scientist   | Grad. Students   | CISAB Alumni

| Graduate Program   | Undergrad.Prog.   | REU Program   | Postdoc Info  : Members Only

| Speakers   | Local Calendar   | Conferences   | CISAB Lectures

| DO Stuff !   | GET Stuff !   | LEARN Stuff !   | Good Reads

| Careers   | Homework Help   | Media Resource   | Tech Problems?   | Useful Links

| Contact   | A.B. Bulletin   | © Notice   | Web Site Index