Study on social structure and behavior of cichlid fish as model systems of vertabrate social evolution

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25304017
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 海外学術
• Research Field: Ecology/Environment
• Research Institution: Osaka City University
• Principal Investigator: Kohda Masanori 大阪市立大学, 大学院理学研究科, 教授 (70192052)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): Hori Michio 京都大学, 大学院理学研究科, 名誉教授 (40112552) ; Takahashi Tetsumi 兵庫県立大学, 自然・環境科学研究所, 教授 (70432359) ; Morita Masaya 琉球大学, 熱帯生物圏研究センター, 准教授 (80535302) ; Takeyama Tomohiro 岡山理科大学, 生物地球学部, 准教授 (70452266)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 協同繁殖 / 共同的一妻多夫 / 雌雄の対立 / 社会的認知 / 意思決定 / 社会進化 / 利他行動 / 血縁関係

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We found a cooperative breeding cichlid with related helpers from a new lineage, and we can say ca. 10 spp. of the cooperative breeding evolve in 4 times independently. Comparative study suggests several ecological conditions related to these cooperative breeding., and we propose a hypothesis for the ecological conditions associated with these social evolution.
Field studies provided basic ecological information on breeding social structure of the cooperative polyandrous species. Finding to be noted was the revealing of the process of females control of male decision making on parental care investment. Spawning females performed pseudo-spawning frequently and control male's paternity recognition. We suggest this female control will be main social factors forming this polyandrous mating system, instead of previously considered male-male social interaction. We confirmed facial recognition in a cichlid first in fish, and suggested the reciprocal altruism in a dear enemy relation.

Free Research Field

行動生態学、進化生態学、認知行動学