Changes in local interaction rules during ontogeny underlie the evolution of collective behavior

Alexandra Paz; Karla J Holt; Anik Clarke; Ari Aviles; Briana Abraham; Alex C Keene; Erik R Duboué; Yaouen Fily; Johanna E Kowalko

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.107431

Changes in local interaction rules during ontogeny underlie the evolution of collective behavior

iScience. 2023 Jul 20;26(9):107431. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107431. eCollection 2023 Sep 15.

Authors

Alexandra Paz¹, Karla J Holt¹, Anik Clarke¹, Ari Aviles¹, Briana Abraham¹, Alex C Keene², Erik R Duboué¹, Yaouen Fily¹, Johanna E Kowalko³

Affiliations

¹ Wilkes Honors College, Florida Atlantic University, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA.
² Department of Biology, Texas A&M, College Station, TX 77840, USA.
³ Department of Biological Sciences, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18015, USA.

Abstract

Collective motion emerges from individual interactions which produce group-wide patterns in behavior. While adaptive changes to collective motion are observed across animal species, how local interactions change when these collective behaviors evolve is poorly understood. Here, we use the Mexican tetra, Astyanax mexicanus, which exists as a schooling surface form and a non-schooling cave form, to study differences in how fish alter their swimming in response to neighbors across ontogeny and between evolutionarily diverged populations. We find that surface fish undergo a transition to schooling mediated by changes in the way fish modulate speed and turning relative to neighbors. This transition begins with the tendency to align to neighbors emerging by 28 days post-fertilization and ends with the emergence of robust attraction by 70 days post-fertilization. Cavefish exhibit neither alignment nor attraction at any stage of development. These results reveal how evolution alters local interactions to produce striking differences in collective behavior.

Keywords: Biological sciences; Evolutionary biology; Zoology.