It began in ponds and rivers : charting the beginnings of the ecology of fish cognition
Abstract
But fish cognitive ecology did not begin in rivers and streams. Rather, one of the starting points for work on fish cognitive ecology was work done on the use of visual cues by homing pigeons. Prior to working with fish, Victoria Braithwaite helped to establish that homing pigeons rely not just on magnetic and olfactory cues but also on visual cues for successful return to their home loft. Simple, elegant experiments on homing established Victoria's ability to develop experimental manipulations to examine the role of visual cues in navigation by fish in familiar areas. This work formed the basis of a rich seam of work whereby a fish's ecology was used to propose hypotheses and predictions as to preferred cue use, and then cognitive abilities in a variety of fish species, from model systems (Atlantic salmon and sticklebacks) to the Panamanian Brachyraphis episcopi. Cognitive ecology in fish led to substantial work on fish pain and welfare, but was never left behind, with some of Victoria's last work addressed to determining the neural instantiation of cognitive variation.
Citation
Healy , S D & Patton , B W 2022 , ' It began in ponds and rivers : charting the beginnings of the ecology of fish cognition ' , Frontiers in Veterinary Science , vol. 9 , 823143 . https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2022.823143
Publication
Frontiers in Veterinary Science
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
2297-1769Type
Journal item
Rights
Copyright © 2022 Healy and Patton. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
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