cooperative breeding; cichlids; gene expression; evolutionary ecology; developmental plasticity; social behaviour; parental effects; fish; ontogeny; life history
Nyman Cecilia, Fischer Stefan, Aubin-Horth Nadia, Taborsky Barbara (2018), Evolutionary conserved neural signature of early life stress affects animal social competence, in
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 285(1871), 20172344-20172344.
Fischer Stefan, Bohn Lena, Oberhummer Evelyne, Nyman Cecilia, Taborsky Barbara (2017), Divergence of developmental trajectories is triggered interactively by early social and ecological experience in a cooperative breeder, in
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(44), E9300-E9307.
Bannier Francis, Tebbich Sabine, Taborsky Barbara (2017), Early experience affects learning performance and neophobia in a cooperatively breeding cichlid, in
Ethology, 123(10), 712-723.
Fischer Stefan, Oberhummer Evelyne, Cunha-Saraiva Filipa, Gerber Nina, Taborsky Barbara (2017), Smell or vision? The use of different sensory modalities in predator discrimination, in
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 71(10), 143-143.
Kasper Claudia, Vierbuchen Maddalena, Ernst Ulrich, Fischer Stefan, Radersma Reinder, Raulo Aura, Cunha-Saraiva Filipa, Wu Min, Mobley Kenyon B., Taborsky Barbara (2017), Genetics and developmental biology of cooperation, in
Molecular Ecology, 26(17), 4364-4377.
Kasper Claudia, Kölliker Mathias, Postma Erik, Taborsky Barbara (2017), Consistent cooperation in a cichlid fish is caused by maternal and developmental effects rather than heritable genetic variation, in
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 284(1858), 20170369-20170369.
Nyman Cecilia, Fischer Stefan, Aubin-Horth Nadia, Taborsky Barbara (2017), Effect of the early social environment on behavioural and genomic responses to a social challenge in a cooperatively breeding vertebrate, in
Molecular Ecology, 26(12), 3186-3203.
Taborsky Barbara (2016), Opening the Black Box of Developmental Experiments: Behavioural Mechanisms Underlying Long-Term Effects of Early Social Experience, in
Ethology, 122(4), 267-283.
Hess Sybille, Fischer Stefan, Taborsky Barbara (2016), Territorial aggression reduces vigilance but increases aggression towards predators in a cooperatively breeding fish, in
Animal Behaviour, 113, 229-235.
Taborsky Michael, Taborsky Barbara (2015), Evolution of genetic and physiological mechanisms of cooperative behaviour, in
Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 6, 132-138.
Taborsky Barbara, Fischer Stefan, Bessert-Nettelbeck Mathilde, Kotrschal Alexander (2015), Rearing-Group Size Determines Social Competence and Brain Structure in a Cooperatively Breeding Cichlid, in
The American Naturalist , 186(1), 123-140.
Taborsky Barbara, Groothuis T.G.G. (2015), Introducing biological realism into the study of developmental plasticity in behaviour, in
Frontiers in Zoologie, 12, 6.
Taborsky Barbara, Developmental Plasticity: Preparing for Life in a Complex World, in
Advances in the Study of Behavior, 49, 1-42.
There is ample evidence showing that early life conditions can have persistent, often life-long, effects on the phenotypic development of animals, and that effects of the early environment can be carried over to successive generations, for example via non-genetic parental effects. Most of this research focused only on a single environmental dimension or on a single ontogenetic period. However, natural environments are usually multi-dimensional and complex, which requires an integrative research incorporating multiple ecological factors and multiple ontogenetic stages, if we aim to understand the development of well-integrated adult phenotypes. The highly social cichlid Neolamprologus pulcher is a unique model system to study the development of integrated phenotypes, because it uses environmental cues to specialize on one of two life history strategies during ontogeny, namely early own reproduction or delayed dispersal to help rearing young of dominant breeders. N. pulcher is an intensively studied vertebrate model system for studies of social evolution and is exceptionally well amenable to experiments in the field and in the laboratory under semi-natural conditions. The first aim of this project is to investigate the relative significance of four important environmental influences, maternal effects on eggs, brood care, the early juvenile and the late juvenile environment, for the development of helping and dispersal propensities of N. pulcher. As second aim, I will investigate whether the early environment influences adult life histories and reproductive performance, and whether it impacts the phenotypes of successive generations through epigenetic inheritance. By targeted laboratory experiments and field studies, I will investigate the molecular basis of plastic responses, the epigenetic mechanisms of differential gene expression, the involved ecological factors driving plastic responses, and their ultimate fitness effects. Furthermore I will perform a general meta-analysis to compare the relative effects of maternal effects and direct early-life experience on organismal performance. Both, the integration of environmental information across ontogenetic stages and long-term effects of early social experience within and across generations (i) will enhance our understanding of basic processes of vertebrate phenotypic development and (ii) it will add a so far largely missing developmental perspective to the debates on ecological causes of social strategies in cooperative breeders.