Does the presence of novel vs. familiar companions affect the social buffering response in Danio rerio?

dc.contributor.advisorBowers-Macrander, Ashley
dc.contributor.advisorDurland Donahou, Allison L.
dc.contributor.authorBurnette, Stephanie
dc.date.accessioned2022-05-10T19:05:05Z
dc.date.available2022-05-10T19:05:05Z
dc.date.issued2022-05
dc.descriptionHonors Thesis Spring 2022
dc.description.abstractSocial buffering is a phenomenon observed in social animals where the presence of a member from the same species alleviates the stress response by reducing the amount of stress an animal experiences, helping them to recover faster. Social buffering has been observed across vertebrate taxa, from primates, to birds, to fish. Zebrafish, Danio rerio, are a shoaling species –group living fish that form social bonds with other members. To test how familiarity within a group plays a role in social buffering, I exposed 18 zebrafish to a stressor in three treatments: 1) in pairs of new companions; 2) individually; and 3) in pairs where the fish are familiar with each other. After administering the stressor, chasing with a net, I observed the behavior of the fish for 20 minutes and scored four stress-related behaviors: erratic swimming, freezing, reduced exploration, and shoaling cohesion. The isolation treatment exhibited increased erratic movements and overall activity. The novel and familiar treatments did not significantly differ in any of the behaviors. The presence of conspecifics, whether or not they are familiar, seem to alleviate stress-related behaviors.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11416/612
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherFlorida Southern Collegeen_US
dc.subjectZebra danioen_US
dc.subjectSocial behavior in animalsen_US
dc.titleDoes the presence of novel vs. familiar companions affect the social buffering response in Danio rerio?en_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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