Consequences of Environmental Manipulation on Behavioural and Neuromorphological Plasticity as It Relates to the Reintroduction of Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) to Lake Ontario

The reintroduction of imperilled species has become an important tool in conservation biology and relies on the captive-rearing of remaining individuals, or a subset thereof, as a lifeline to prevent extinction. The success of reintroduction efforts has generally been low, mainly due to poor post-re...

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Main Author: Mokdad, Ali I
Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Windsor 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd/9039
https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/context/etd/article/10045/viewcontent/Consequences_of_Environmental_.pdf
id ftunivwindsor:oai:scholar.uwindsor.ca:etd-10045
record_format openpolar
spelling ftunivwindsor:oai:scholar.uwindsor.ca:etd-10045 2023-06-18T03:39:51+02:00 Consequences of Environmental Manipulation on Behavioural and Neuromorphological Plasticity as It Relates to the Reintroduction of Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) to Lake Ontario Mokdad, Ali I 2023-01-01T08:00:00Z application/pdf https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd/9039 https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/context/etd/article/10045/viewcontent/Consequences_of_Environmental_.pdf English eng University of Windsor https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd/9039 https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/context/etd/article/10045/viewcontent/Consequences_of_Environmental_.pdf info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Electronic Theses and Dissertations Behaviour Captive breeding Neuromorphology Reintroduction Atlantic salmon Environmental Sciences dissertation 2023 ftunivwindsor 2023-06-03T22:13:15Z The reintroduction of imperilled species has become an important tool in conservation biology and relies on the captive-rearing of remaining individuals, or a subset thereof, as a lifeline to prevent extinction. The success of reintroduction efforts has generally been low, mainly due to poor post-release performance of captive-reared animals. Captive-breeding programs tend to produce behaviourally and neurologically compromised animals that deviate from wild phenotypes and are less fit in natural settings. While genetic adaptation can account for some of the behavioural deficiencies expressed by captive-reared animals, phenotypic plasticity has been shown to play a large role. Phenotypic plasticity is generally defined as the ability of an individual to produce different phenotypes, or change the trajectory of phenotypic development, when exposed to different environmental conditions. This thesis proposes that by understanding the environmental factors and mechanisms that shape the phenotype, conservation biologists and managers alike can alter the rearing conditions and release protocols of captive-bred animals destined for stocking to increase the success of reintroduction efforts. Throughout this thesis I examine the effects conditioning tactics – methods aimed at manipulating the rearing environment and release protocol to counteract the negative effects of captive-rearing on fitness-related behaviours in Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar). Specifically, I investigated the effects of manipulating the early developmental rearing via enrichment (sensory enrichment via alarm cue exposure and physical enrichment via increased structure in the rearing environment) on anti-predator related behaviours. Alarm cue exposure during early development had no significant effect on anti-predator related behaviour but fish exposed to alarm cue showed significant plastic changes to regional brain volumes (smaller olfactory bulbs), suggesting the potential for alarm cue to affect post-release behaviour. Physical enrichment during ... Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis Atlantic salmon Salmo salar University of Windsor, Ontario: Scholarship at UWindsor
institution Open Polar
collection University of Windsor, Ontario: Scholarship at UWindsor
op_collection_id ftunivwindsor
language English
topic Behaviour
Captive breeding
Neuromorphology
Reintroduction
Atlantic salmon
Environmental Sciences
spellingShingle Behaviour
Captive breeding
Neuromorphology
Reintroduction
Atlantic salmon
Environmental Sciences
Mokdad, Ali I
Consequences of Environmental Manipulation on Behavioural and Neuromorphological Plasticity as It Relates to the Reintroduction of Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) to Lake Ontario
topic_facet Behaviour
Captive breeding
Neuromorphology
Reintroduction
Atlantic salmon
Environmental Sciences
description The reintroduction of imperilled species has become an important tool in conservation biology and relies on the captive-rearing of remaining individuals, or a subset thereof, as a lifeline to prevent extinction. The success of reintroduction efforts has generally been low, mainly due to poor post-release performance of captive-reared animals. Captive-breeding programs tend to produce behaviourally and neurologically compromised animals that deviate from wild phenotypes and are less fit in natural settings. While genetic adaptation can account for some of the behavioural deficiencies expressed by captive-reared animals, phenotypic plasticity has been shown to play a large role. Phenotypic plasticity is generally defined as the ability of an individual to produce different phenotypes, or change the trajectory of phenotypic development, when exposed to different environmental conditions. This thesis proposes that by understanding the environmental factors and mechanisms that shape the phenotype, conservation biologists and managers alike can alter the rearing conditions and release protocols of captive-bred animals destined for stocking to increase the success of reintroduction efforts. Throughout this thesis I examine the effects conditioning tactics – methods aimed at manipulating the rearing environment and release protocol to counteract the negative effects of captive-rearing on fitness-related behaviours in Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar). Specifically, I investigated the effects of manipulating the early developmental rearing via enrichment (sensory enrichment via alarm cue exposure and physical enrichment via increased structure in the rearing environment) on anti-predator related behaviours. Alarm cue exposure during early development had no significant effect on anti-predator related behaviour but fish exposed to alarm cue showed significant plastic changes to regional brain volumes (smaller olfactory bulbs), suggesting the potential for alarm cue to affect post-release behaviour. Physical enrichment during ...
format Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
author Mokdad, Ali I
author_facet Mokdad, Ali I
author_sort Mokdad, Ali I
title Consequences of Environmental Manipulation on Behavioural and Neuromorphological Plasticity as It Relates to the Reintroduction of Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) to Lake Ontario
title_short Consequences of Environmental Manipulation on Behavioural and Neuromorphological Plasticity as It Relates to the Reintroduction of Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) to Lake Ontario
title_full Consequences of Environmental Manipulation on Behavioural and Neuromorphological Plasticity as It Relates to the Reintroduction of Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) to Lake Ontario
title_fullStr Consequences of Environmental Manipulation on Behavioural and Neuromorphological Plasticity as It Relates to the Reintroduction of Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) to Lake Ontario
title_full_unstemmed Consequences of Environmental Manipulation on Behavioural and Neuromorphological Plasticity as It Relates to the Reintroduction of Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) to Lake Ontario
title_sort consequences of environmental manipulation on behavioural and neuromorphological plasticity as it relates to the reintroduction of atlantic salmon (salmo salar) to lake ontario
publisher University of Windsor
publishDate 2023
url https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd/9039
https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/context/etd/article/10045/viewcontent/Consequences_of_Environmental_.pdf
genre Atlantic salmon
Salmo salar
genre_facet Atlantic salmon
Salmo salar
op_source Electronic Theses and Dissertations
op_relation https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd/9039
https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/context/etd/article/10045/viewcontent/Consequences_of_Environmental_.pdf
op_rights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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