Studying dominance and aggression requires ethologically relevant paradigms.

Although aggression is associated with several psychiatric disorders, there is no effective treatment nor a rigorous definition for "pathological aggression". Mice make a valuable model for studying aggression. They have a dynamic social structure that depends on the habitat and includes reciprocal interactions between the mice's aggression levels, social dominance hierarchy (SDH), and resource allocation. Nevertheless, the classical behavioral tests for territorial aggression and SDH in mice are reductive and have limited ethological and translational relevance. Recent work has explored the use of semi-natural environments to simultaneously study dominance-related behaviors, resource allocation, and aggressive behavior. Semi-natural setups allow experimental control of the environment combined with manipulations of neural activity. We argue that these setups can help bridge the translational gap in aggression research toward discovering neuronal mechanisms underlying maladaptive aggression.

Ethological computational psychiatry: Challenges and opportunities.

Studying the intricacies of individual subjects' moods and cognitive processing over extended periods of time presents a formidable challenge in medicine. While much of systems neuroscience appropriately focuses on the link between neural circuit functions and well-constrained behaviors over short timescales (e.g., trials, hours), many mental health conditions involve complex interactions of mood and cognition that are non-stationary across behavioral contexts and evolve over extended timescales. Here, we discuss opportunities, challenges, and possible future directions in computational psychiatry to quantify non-stationary continuously monitored behaviors. We suggest that this exploratory effort may contribute to a more precision-based approach to treating mental disorders and facilitate a more robust reverse translation across animal species. We conclude with ethical considerations for any field that aims to bridge artificial intelligence and patient monitoring.

Ocular Necessities: A Neuroethological Perspective on Vertebrate Visual Development.

BACKGROUND: By examining species-specific innate behaviours, neuroethologists have characterized unique neural strategies and specializations from throughout the animal kingdom. Simultaneously, the field of evolutionary developmental biology (informally, "evo-devo") seeks to make inferences about animals' evolutionary histories through careful comparison of developmental processes between species, because evolution is the evolution of development. Yet despite the shared focus on cross-species comparisons, there is surprisingly little crosstalk between these two fields. Insights can be gleaned at the intersection of neuroethology and evo-devo. Every animal develops within an environment, wherein ecological pressures advantage some behaviours and disadvantage others. These pressures are reflected in the neurodevelopmental strategies employed by different animals across taxa. SUMMARY: Vision is a system of particular interest for studying the adaptation of animals to their environments. The visual system enables a wide variety of animals across the vertebrate lineage to interact with their environments, presenting a fantastic opportunity to examine how ecological pressures have shaped animals' behaviours and developmental strategies. Applying a neuroethological lens to the study of visual development, we advance a novel theory that accounts for the evolution of spontaneous retinal waves, an important phenomenon in the development of the visual system, across the vertebrate lineage. KEY MESSAGES: We synthesize literature on spontaneous retinal waves from across the vertebrate lineage. We find that ethological considerations explain some cross-species differences in the dynamics of retinal waves. In zebrafish, retinal waves may be more important for the development of the retina itself, rather than the retinofugal projections. We additionally suggest empirical tests to determine whether Xenopus laevis experiences retinal waves.

Ecology, ethology, and evolution in the Anthropocene.

The 53rd Ontario Ecology, Ethology, and Evolution Colloquium (OE3C 2023) took place at Western University (London, Canada) on 25-27 May 2023, attracting 160 participants. This Meeting Review aims not only to recapitulate what was discussed during the event, but also to provide a brief synthesis of how biologists can move forward. The event was organised and run by graduate students and postdoctoral researchers from the Department of Biology at Western University. With three international keynote speakers, seventy talks, and fifty poster presentations, the OE3C 2023 spanned a wide range of contemporary research in Ecology, Ethology, and Evolution ("the 3 E's"). The colloquium theme was "Surviving the Anthropocene: future steps for the 3 E's under pressing planetary issues", which was complemented by illustrations depicting the fauna and flora of the "Canadian Anthropocene". Participants discussed what biologists and researchers can do regarding future climate and environmental catastrophes. The meeting culminated in a panel discussion comprising three climate change specialists who examined topics such as the Anthropocene and the Great acceleration, the living planet index, and carbon bombs. Although not exhaustive, these topics served as a starting point for the necessary discussions about how biologists can contribute to the fight for the survival of life on Earth.

Managing Colorectal Cancer from Ethology to Interdisciplinary Treatment: The Gains and Challenges of Modern Medicine.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common malignant tumor of the gastrointestinal tract, which has become a serious threat to human health worldwide. This article exhaustively reviews colorectal cancer's incidence and relevance, carcinogenesis molecular pathways, up-to-date treatment opportunities, prophylaxis, and screening program achievements, with attention paid to its regional variations and changes over time. This paper provides a concise overview of known CRC risk factors, including familial, hereditary, and environmental lifestyle-related risk factors. The authors take a closer look into CRC's molecular genetic pathways and the role of specific enzymes involved in carcinogenesis. Moreover, the role of the general practitioner and multidisciplinary approach in CRC treatment is summarized and highlighted based on recent recommendations and experience. This article gives a clear understanding and review of the gains and challenges of modern medicine towards CRC. The authors believe that understanding the current patterns of CRC and its revolution is imperative to the prospects of reducing its burden through cancer prevention and cancer-adjusted treatment.

Long-term video and genetic data yield insights into complex sociality of a solitary large carnivore.

American black bears (Ursus americanus) may be more social than currently understood. We used long-term video and genetic data to evaluate social interactions among wild, independent-aged black bear on a conservation property in western Montana, USA. We used multinomial logistic regression to evaluate predictions about male-male interactions within the context of individual fitness, female-female interactions within the context of inclusive fitness, and male-female interactions within the context of female counterstrategies to infanticide. Overall, our findings challenged the assumption that independent-aged bears interact only during the mating season or when concentrated feeding sites are present. We documented 169 interaction events by at least 66 bear pairs, 92 (54%) of which occurred outside of the peak mating season and in the absence of concentrated feeding sites. The probability that male-male pairs engaged in play and other non-agonistic behaviours was higher than that for female-female pairs. Conversely, the probability that female-female pairs engaged in chase behaviour was higher than that for male-male and male-female pairs. We documented evidence of female mate choice, female resource defense, sexually selected infanticide (SSI), and female counterstrategies to avoid SSI. Our findings improve our understanding of ursid ethology and underscore the complexity of ursid sociality.

[Which place has experimentation in ethology?] / Quelle place pour l'expérimentation en éthologie ?

The experimental approach has been at the center of my thoughts since my baccalaureate of "experimental sciences". Trained in neurosciences, I very quickly chose the field of ethology, thinking I would escape certain experimental approaches and offer myself research more respectful of animal life. Today, I have to note that this option did not necessarily lead to what I had imagined. I have been both the witness and the actor of practices that deserve attention. This path, punctuated by an evolution of the conceptions of our relations with living beings, leads me to question the ethics, sometimes contradictory, of action and knowledge.

Title: Quelle place pour l'expérimentation en éthologie ? Abstract: La démarche expérimentale est au centre de mes réflexions depuis mon baccalauréat « sciences ex ¼. Formé aux neurosciences, j'ai très vite choisi l'éthologie de terrain, pensant échapper à certaines démarches expérimentales et m'offrir des activités de recherche plus respectueuses de la vie animale. Aujourd'hui, je dois constater que cette option n'aboutit pas forcément à ce que j'avais imaginé. J'ai été à la fois le témoin et l'acteur de pratiques qui méritent attention. Ce parcours, jalonné par une évolution des conceptions de nos relations avec les être animés, me conduit à questionner les éthiques, parfois contradictoires, de l'action et de la connaissance.

How do you do the things that you do? Ethological approach to the description of robot behaviour.

The detailed description of behaviour of the interacting parties is becoming more and more important in human-robot interaction (HRI), especially in social robotics (SR). With the rise in the number of publications, there is a substantial need for the objective and comprehensive description of implemented robot behaviours to ensure comparability and reproducibility of the studies. Ethograms and the meticulous analysis of behaviour was introduced long ago in animal behaviour research (cf. ethology). The adoption of this method in SR and HRI can ensure the desired clarity over robot behaviours, while also providing added benefits during robot development, behaviour modelling and analysis of HRI experiments. We provide an overview of the possible uses and advantages of ethograms in HRI, and propose a general framework for describing behaviour which can be adapted to the requirements of specific studies.

The Presidential Symposium at the International Congress of Neuroethology 2022 in Lisbon, Portugal.

In this special issue of articles from leading neuroethologists-all of whom gave outstanding presentations within the Presidential Symposium of the 2022 International Congress of Neuroethology held in Lisbon, Portugal-we learn about the role of cryptochrome molecules in the magnetic sense of animals, how honeybees construct their honeycombs, why fish eyes are built the way they are in species from different depths, how archerfish intercept their newly downed prey with a swift muscular curving of the body (known as a C-start) and how birds process optic flow information to control flight. Each contribution showcases how nervous systems have evolved to control behaviour, the raison d'être of neuroethology.

Collicular circuits supporting the perceptual, motor and cognitive demands of ethological environments.

Animals evolve to survive in their environment. Accordingly, a reasonable hypothesis is that brain evolution prioritises the processing of useful sensory information over complete representation of the surroundings. The superior colliculus or tectum is a brain area that processes the animal's surroundings and directs movements in space. Here, we review recent studies on the role of the superior colliculus to assess the validity of this "utility hypothesis". We discuss how the response properties of collicular neurons vary across anatomical regions to capture ethologically relevant stimuli at a given portion of the sensory field. Next, we focus on the recent advances dissecting the role of defined types of sensory and motor neurons of the colliculus in prey capture. Finally, we discuss the recent literature describing how this ancient structure, with neural circuits over 500 million years old, implements the necessary degree of cognitive control for flexible sensorimotor transformation.

Beyond simple laboratory studies: Developing sophisticated models to study rich behavior.

Psychology and neuroscience are concerned with the study of behavior, of internal cognitive processes, and their neural foundations. However, most laboratory studies use constrained experimental settings that greatly limit the range of behaviors that can be expressed. While focusing on restricted settings ensures methodological control, it risks impoverishing the object of study: by restricting behavior, we might miss key aspects of cognitive and neural functions. In this article, we argue that psychology and neuroscience should increasingly adopt innovative experimental designs, measurement methods, analysis techniques and sophisticated computational models to probe rich, ecologically valid forms of behavior, including social behavior. We discuss the challenges of studying rich forms of behavior as well as the novel opportunities offered by state-of-the-art methodologies and new sensing technologies, and we highlight the importance of developing sophisticated formal models. We exemplify our arguments by reviewing some recent streams of research in psychology, neuroscience and other fields (e.g., sports analytics, ethology and robotics) that have addressed rich forms of behavior in a model-based manner. We hope that these "success cases" will encourage psychologists and neuroscientists to extend their toolbox of techniques with sophisticated behavioral models - and to use them to study rich forms of behavior as well as the cognitive and neural processes that they engage.

Acute mancozeb-fungicide exposure induces neuro-ethology disruption, health disorders, and immune-oxidative dysfunction in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus).

An acute exposure study of mancozeb (MAZ) fungicide was applied on Oreochromis niloticus for 96-h duration. Three hundred fish (20.50 ± 1.60 g) were assigned into six groups (50 fish/ group; 10 fish/replicate) and exposed to different six concentrations (0, 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 mg L-1) of MAZ for 96-h. The Probit analysis program was used to compute the 96-h lethal concentration 50 (96-h LC50) of MAZ. During the exposure duration, the fish's behavior, clinical symptoms, and mortalities were recorded daily. After the exposure period was ended, the hematological, biochemical, immunological, and oxidant/antioxidant parameters were evaluated. The results of this study recorded the 96-h LC50 of MAZ for O. niloticus to be 11.49 mg L-1. Acute MAZ exposure badly affected the fish's behavior in the form of increased the breath gasping and swimming activity with aggressive mode. The exposed fish showed excessive body hemorrhages and fin rot. The survival rate of the exposed fish to MAZ was 100, 80, 66, 50, 38, and 30% in 0, 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 mg L-1 MAZ, respectively. The hematological indices (red blood cell count, hemoglobin, packed cell volume%, and white blood cell count) were significantly decreased by increasing the MAZ exposure concentration (8-20 mg L-1). The acetylcholine esterase activity and immune indices (lysozyme, nitric oxide, immunoglobulin M, complement 3) were decreased by MAZ exposure (4-20 mg L-1). Acute MAZ exposure induced hepato-renal dysfunction and elevated stress-related parameter (cortisol) by increasing the MAZ concentration. A significant reduction in the antioxidant parameters (total antioxidant activity, catalase, and superoxide dismutase) with increasing the lipid peroxidation marker (malondialdehyde) was noticed by acute MAZ exposure (4 -20 mg L-1) in O. niloticus. Based on these outcomes, the MAZ exposure induced toxicity to the fish evident in changes in fish behavior, neurological activity, hepato-renal functioning, and immune-antioxidant responses which suggest physiological disruption.

Advancing social behavioral neuroscience by integrating ethology and comparative psychology methods through machine learning.

Social behavior is naturally occurring in vertebrate species, which holds a strong evolutionary component and is crucial for the normal development and survival of individuals throughout life. Behavioral neuroscience has seen different influential methods for social behavioral phenotyping. The ethological research approach has extensively investigated social behavior in natural habitats, while the comparative psychology approach was developed utilizing standardized and univariate social behavioral tests. The development of advanced and precise tracking tools, together with post-tracking analysis packages, has recently enabled a novel behavioral phenotyping method, that includes the strengths of both approaches. The implementation of such methods will be beneficial for fundamental social behavioral research but will also enable an increased understanding of the influences of many different factors that can influence social behavior, such as stress exposure. Furthermore, future research will increase the number of data modalities, such as sensory, physiological, and neuronal activity data, and will thereby significantly enhance our understanding of the biological basis of social behavior and guide intervention strategies for behavioral abnormalities in psychiatric disorders.

Behavioural responses to separation from human companion in the domestic cat: A survey-based study.

The domestic cat is known to react to social separation, though the conceptual relationship between separation-related behaviours outside of a clinical context has not been described in detail. We did an online survey on participants who had cats in their households (Nparticipants=114; Ncats=133) and asked them to evaluate the frequency of 12 behavioural elements associated with social separation from human companions on a 5- point Likert Scale. We performed two dimensionality reduction techniques (component and factor analyses) to assess whether the specified behaviours related to social separation belonged to the same axis. We found four distinct dimensions instead of one: (a) reactivity towards companion departure cues, (b) protest behaviour towards inaccessibility, (c) unusual elimination behaviour, and (d) negative responses following social separation. Our findings suggest a manifestation of different motivational states rather than a single, separation-related construct. Future studies would benefit from a careful evaluation of the separation-related behaviours in a multi-measure context to improve the accuracy of ethological classifications.

[Effect of Ganmai Dazao Decoction on ethology of rats with PTSD and its mechanism].

This study aimed to explore the effect of Ganmai Dazao Decoction on the ethology of rats with posttraumatic stress disorder(PTSD) and study the related mechanism through the changes in magnetic resonance imaging and protein expression. Sixty rats were randomly divided into 6 groups, namely the normal group, the model group, the low(1 g·kg~(-1)), medium(2 g·kg~(-1)), and high-dose Ganmai Dazao Decoction groups(4 g·kg~(-1)), and the positive control group(intragastric administration with 10.8 mg·kg~(-1) of fluoxetine), with 10 rats in each group. Two weeks after inducing PTSD by single-prolonged stress(SPS) in rats, the positive control group was given fluoxetine hydrochloride capsule by gavage, the low, medium, and high-dose groups were given Ganmai Dazao Decoction by gavage, and both the normal group and the model group were given the same volume of normal saline by gavage, each for 7 days. The open field experiment, elevated cross elevated maze, forced swimming experiment, and new object recognition test were carried out for the behavioral test. Three rats in each group were selected to detect the expression of neuropeptide receptor Y1(NPY1R) protein in the hippocampus by Western blot. Then, the other three rats in each group were selected to use the 9.4T magnetic resonance imaging experiment to observe the overall structural changes in the brain region and the anisotropy fraction of the hippocampus. The results of the open field experiment showed that the total distance and central distance of rats in the model group were significantly lower than those in the normal group, and the total distance and central distance of rats in the middle and high-dose Ganmai Dazao Decoction groups were higher than those in the model group. The results of the elevated cross maze test showed that medium and high-dose Ganmai Dazao Decoction remarkably increased the number of open arm entries and the residence time of open arm of rats with PTSD. The results of the forced swimming experiment showed that the immobility time in the water of the model group rats was significantly higher than that of the normal group, and Ganmai Dazao Decoction hugely reduced the immobility time in the water of rats with PTSD. The results of the new object recognition test showed that Ganmai Dazao Decoction significantly increased the exploration time of new objects and familiar objects in rats with PTSD. The results of Western blot showed that Ganmai Dazao Decoction significantly reduced the expression of NYP1R protein in the hippocampus of rats with PTSD. The 9.4T magnetic resonance examination found that there was no significant difference in the structural image among the groups. In the functional image, the fractional anisotropy(FA value) of the hippocampus in the model group was significantly lower than that in the normal group. The FA value of the hippocampus in the middle and high-dose Ganmai Dazao Decoction groups was higher than that in the model group. Ganmai Dazao Decoction reduces the injury of hippocampal neurons by inhibiting the expression of NYP1R in the hippocampus of rats with PTSD, thereby improving the nerve function injury of rats with PTSD and playing a neuroprotective role.

The cognitive map debate in insects: A historical perspective on what is at stake.

Though well established in mammals, the cognitive map hypothesis has engendered a decades-long, ongoing debate in insect navigation studies involving many of the field's most prominent researchers. In this paper, I situate the debate within the broader context of 20th century animal behavior research and argue that the debate persists because competing research groups are guided by different constellations of epistemic aims, theoretical commitments, preferred animal subjects, and investigative practices. The expanded history of the cognitive map provided in this paper shows that more is at stake in the cognitive map debate than the truth value of propositions characterizing insect cognition. What is at stake is the future direction of an extraordinarily productive tradition of insect navigation research stretching back to Karl von Frisch. Disciplinary labels like ethology, comparative psychology, and behaviorism became less relevant at the turn of the 21st century, but as I show, the different ways of knowing animals associated with these disciplines continue to motivate debates about animal cognition. This examination of scientific disagreement surrounding the cognitive map hypothesis also has significant consequences for philosophers' use of cognitive map research as a case study.

Epistemological discipline in animal behavior studies: Konrad Lorenz and Daniel Lehrman on intuition and empathy.

Can empathy be a tool for obtaining scientific knowledge or is it incompatible with the detached objectivity that is often seen as the ideal in scientific inquiry? This paper examines the views of Austrian ethologist Konrad Lorenz and American comparative psychologist Daniel Lehrman on the role of intuition and empathy in the study of animal behavior. It situates those views within the larger project of establishing ethology as an objective science. Lehrman challenged Lorenz and Niko Tinbergen, the main founders of this field, to clarify their epistemological positions regarding how to deal with the subjectivity of the animals they studied as well as the scientist's own subjectivity. I argue that there was a tension between their desire to eliminate the subjectivities of ethological researchers (and of their subjects) and the public perception that Lorenz had a remarkable ability to enter into the lives of the animals he studied. I explain why Lorenz rejected empathy as valid in scientific inquiry, showing that his epistemological position was grounded in his ideal of science and his proposed ontology for ethology. Yet, Lehrman insisted that full detachment was neither possible nor desirable.

Open-source tools for behavioral video analysis: Setup, methods, and best practices.

Recently developed methods for video analysis, especially models for pose estimation and behavior classification, are transforming behavioral quantification to be more precise, scalable, and reproducible in fields such as neuroscience and ethology. These tools overcome long-standing limitations of manual scoring of video frames and traditional 'center of mass' tracking algorithms to enable video analysis at scale. The expansion of open-source tools for video acquisition and analysis has led to new experimental approaches to understand behavior. Here, we review currently available open-source tools for video analysis and discuss how to set up these methods for labs new to video recording. We also discuss best practices for developing and using video analysis methods, including community-wide standards and critical needs for the open sharing of datasets and code, more widespread comparisons of video analysis methods, and better documentation for these methods especially for new users. We encourage broader adoption and continued development of these tools, which have tremendous potential for accelerating scientific progress in understanding the brain and behavior.