Sensory-motor integration in Gnathonemus petersii - WCUB, ENWW
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: Interdisciplinary Bioscience DTP
Abstract
The relationship between sensory and motor systems is fundamental to understanding animal behaviour. Sensory systems inform an animal on how it should behave in a given situation. In turn, an animal's own actions can sculpt the sensory information available. Both sensory and motor systems work to increase an animal's success (e.g. in terms of finding food, evading predators, or obtaining a mate). The weakly electric fish, Gnathonemus petersii, is an excellent model for studying this interaction. It possesses an electrosensory system which is associated with a number of motor actions thought to change the sensory flow present. I hope to unravel this interdependency by using techniques across a number of disciplines (e.g. mechanics, neuroscience, psychology and zoology). I believe that it is necessary to take an interdisciplinary approach in order to understand the interaction at all levels (from neurons to organisms as a whole). As such, this research falls into the BBSRC remit of 'Integrative Animal and Plant Biology' which aims to understand 'how biological processes function in an integrate and dynamic way within tissues and organisms' in the hopes of using these principles to solve problems being faced by the wider world.
Publications
Skeels S
(2023)
Mormyrid fish as models for investigating sensory-motor integration: A behavioural perspective
in Journal of Zoology
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BB/M011224/1 | 01/10/2015 | 31/03/2024 | |||
| 1810111 | Studentship | BB/M011224/1 | 01/10/2015 | 30/09/2020 |
| Title | BBC4's Secrets of Skin: Episode 4 (Communication) |
| Description | I was involved in a BBC4 documentary called 'Secrets of Skin' that was released at the end of last year. The focus of this natural history series was to highlight the variety of skin across the Animal Kingdom and its many uses. I was involved in an episode on communication. In the episode, I demonstrated and explained how weakly electric fish are able to communicate with one another using self-generated electric signals, and how their skin facilitates this process. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Impact | From what I gather, Secrets of Skin was very well received by both the BBC and its audience. It was a great privilege to be involved in this series as it allowed me to share my research on a much bigger stage. Indeed, I've actually had people, friends and strangers alike, who have come up to me saying how much they enjoyed my segment and how they have a new appreciation for fish and what they are able to do. These comments have made all the hard work worth it. |
| URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000cf0y |
| Title | The hidden electrical landscape of Gnathonemus petersii |
| Description | Type of work: Digital artwork Description of work: Head illustration of the weakly electric fish, Gnathonemus petersii. This fish produces pulse type electric organ discharges to perceive local objects in the environment. The head and Schauzenorgan (chin appendage) are heavily textured as these areas are densely packed with electroreceptors, which are used to detect changes in the electric fields generated. This sensory apparatus is easily overlooked at a glance (despite its importance) along with the brilliant colours these fish possess. My aim for this illustration was to highlight these features. |
| Type Of Art | Artwork |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Impact | I submitted this piece of work for the art competition at the International Congress of Neuroethology in Brisbane last summer and it was shortlisted for display during the conference. |
| Description | This DPhil project represents a substantial amount of work investigating sensory-motor interactions in the weakly electric fish, G.petersii. This species displays motor behaviours which are tightly coupled with their ability to actively electrolocate. We have shown that both forwards and backwards swimming are important components of sensory acquisition, and that egocentric movements play a key role in shape discrimination. We have proposed two potential mechanisms by which shape might be extracted from movement- MIMs, and a MIMs-like (snapshot) strategy. Both seem feasible, but their employment likely depends on which one is more reliable in a given situation. Although G.petersii's active electric sense was most dominant at the working range we were interested in, individuals might have chosen to use non-movement cues if they found the electric sense to be compromised. G.petersii have access to an array of senses, and order cues according to their reliability. This flexibility in sensing enables them to get a robust view of their environment, even when it goes through dramatic changes which occur with the changing of the seasons. Mormyrids have spread and diversified across the African continent thanks to their active electric sense, which has revolutionised the way they sense the world and communicate with conspecifics. Future work should focus on determining the function of other active sensing strategies long described in these fish, with the best approaches marrying theoretical with empirical work. Insight from this project can also be used to interpret other active sensing strategies in animals using different modalities, since some of the fundamental principles are the same. The study of sensory-motor interaction in these fish is an exciting area of current research, with new insights emerging regularly. This is owed in part to advancements in technology, but it is also due to how remarkably well suited these animals are for this type of investigation. |
| Exploitation Route | -Future work should focus on deepening the current understanding of how well-described active sensing strategies in these fish inform perception, and vice versa. -Approaches developed can be used to determine the sensory value of other active sensing strategies possessed by these fish. -Research can then be extended to studying active sensing strategies in other animals with different sensory modalities. |
| Sectors | Education,Environment,Other |
| Description | Yes, our findings have been shown to be of broad interest to the public. Our research on weakly electric fish was featured in a recent New Scientist article (published in December 2022). The article was titled: "Elephant-nose fish do a little dance to help them 'see' in 3D" and was received positively by the public. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2022 |
| Impact Types | Cultural |
| Description | I received six months of funding from the Covid-19 Scholarship Extension Fund (CSEF) to make up for disruption caused by the covid-19 pandemic. |
| Amount | £7,643 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University of Oxford |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 10/2020 |
| End | 04/2021 |
| Description | One year student bursary from the Zoology Department to fund the extra time given to complete my research. This time was given to make up for time lost due to the Tinbergen building closure which resulted in the Department being relocated. |
| Amount | £15,009 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University of Oxford |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2019 |
| End | 09/2020 |
| Description | University of Bonn Collaboration |
| Organisation | University of Bonn |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | My main DPhil supervisor/more recently fellowship advisor (Prof Theresa Burt de Perera) has had ties with the University of Bonn since 2011. She jointly supervised a PhD student in Bonn (Sarah Schumacher) alongside Prof Dr Gerhard von der Emde, who is the head of the Neuroethology/Sensory Ecology lab in Bonn. Prof Burt de Perera was involved in the design, implementation, and analysis of the student's experiments. She was also involved in the writing up process. The student graduated in 2018. Since 2015/2016, I have contributed towards this collaboration, first as a DPhil student supervised by both academics, and then as a fellow (BBSRC Career Development Fellowship). I have devised, conducted, analysed, and written up experiments which Prof von der Emde has been involved in. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Prof Dr von der Emde was my secondary DPhil supervisor (graduated in 2022) and more recently my fellowship advisor. He has provided advice on the design, implementation and analysis of my experiments here in Oxford. I visited his lab on two occasions to learn how they carried out and analysed similar experiments. This was invaluable since no one in my lab in Oxford runs experiments quite like mine, and so I have had to look outside the lab for guidance. Prof von der Emde's lab has also helped me in acquiring equipment for my experiments (e.g. training and testing objects). Our collaboration has continued past my DPhil. Prof von der Emde was an advisor on my Career Development Fellowship that finished last year. |
| Impact | The papers listed are the result of collaboration between Prof Burt de Perera, Prof von der Emde and the PhD student described above: 1) 10.1073/pnas.1603120113, 2) 10.1016/j.jphysparis.2016.11.008, 3) 10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.07.016, and 4) doi:10.1038/srep43665. Note this work was done largely before I started my DPhil at Oxford, and so I had no involvement in it. I'm mentioning the work though as it provides context for my participation in the collaboration. More recently, we have published the following based on our research together: Skeels, S., von der Emde, G., and Burt de Perera, T. (2023). Mormyrid fish as models for investigating sensory-motor integration: A behavioural perspective. Journal of Zoology. https://doi.org/10.1111/jzo.13046. Skeels, S., von der Emde, G., and Burt de Perera, T. (2022). Weakly electric fish use self-generated motion to discriminate object shape. bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.12.01.518762. |
| Start Year | 2011 |