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According to a pioneering study by biologists from the University of Guelph, the busier the area is, the bigger the brain – at least for the pumpkin toad, according to a groundbreaking study.
Crab brains living in more complex coastal habitats are larger than those of their simpler open-water counterparts, according to the study published recently in Acts of the Royal Society B.
Caleb Axelrod, senior author of the PhD, said the study could provide clues as to how fish and other creatures will respond to rising environmental stressors resulting from climate change.
He wrote this article with Frédéric Laberge and Beren Robinson, professors of integrative biology.
For ecologists, the size of the brain counts.
Scientists think that a larger brain contains more neurons, and more connections between them, that provide its owner with cognitive and behavioral knowledge that can help him adapt to new environments. .
Since the neural tissue burns a lot of energy, the bigger brains have to offer a benefit. According to the new document, for toads, greater brain power seems to help coastal dwellers negotiate their busier habitat.
Working in Ashby Lake, southeast of Algonquin Park, Ontario, researchers studied live bluegill in its coastal or littoral habitat, where fish feeds on snails and larvae among vegetation.
They compared these coastal inhabitants with crabs living in open water that usually cluster around rock formations and wait for zooplankton to drift within reach.
Bluegill brains in the spatially complex littoral zone averaged 8.3% larger than those in open water or pelagic areas.
"Habitat does have an effect," said Axelrod.
Pelagic fish may have smaller brains because their general condition is worse or their heads are smaller, but the researchers say the fish all look equally healthy with a similar head size.
The team found no difference in the size of the different brain regions between the fish groups.
"It was a surprising discovery," said Axelrod.
Other scientists, for example, have found that olfactory bulbs of bottom-feeding sharks are more developed than open-water species whose large regions of the cerebellum probably reflect different foraging behaviors.
The Coastal Sunfish simply had a bigger brain, he said, "Overall, it's a better acquaintance."
Axelrod said the study could help biologists predict how creatures will adapt to environmental stress caused by pollution, habitat disruption, climate change or invasive species.
"Maybe the littoral fish will be able to respond better than the pelagics because they already have more cognitive abilities."
Robinson said the study underscored the importance of taking into account behavior and cognition in the management and conservation of fish and other animals.
"This study gives us a little more information about the" black box "behind the behavior," he said.
During on-campus experiments, the U of G team tested how pelagic fish thrive in littoral habitats and vice versa. Axelrod said it was too early to draw conclusions that could link performance to brain size.
In adult humans, brain size varies much less and is probably less important than neural cabling – although Axelrod admits there may be some kind of intuitive connection between 'habitat' and performance.
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