Habitat-dependent olfactory discrimination in three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus)

The ability to recognize conspecifics is indispensible for differential treatment of particular individuals in social contexts like grouping behavior. The advantages of grouping are multifarious, and there exist numerous additional benefits of joining aggregations of conspecifics. Recognition is based on different signals and transmitted via multiple channels, among others the olfactory channel. The sensory system or the combination of sensory modalities used in recognition processes is highly dependent on the availability and effectiveness of modalities, which are a function of the environmental conditions. Using F1-generations of six three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) populations from two habitat types (tea-stained and clear-water lakes) from the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, we investigated whether individuals are able to recognize members of their own population solely based on olfactory cues and whether the habitat type an individual originated from had an influence on its recognition abilities. When given the choice (own vs. foreign population) sticklebacks from tea-stained lakes significantly preferred the odor of their own population, whereas fish from clear-water habitats did not show any preference. Moreover, fish from the two habitat types differed significantly in their recognition abilities, indicating that olfactory communication is better developed when visual signaling is disturbed. Thus, the observed odor preferences appear to be the consequence of different selective constraints and adaptations as a result of the differences in environmental conditions that have acted on the parental generations. These adaptations are likely genetically based as the differences are present in the F1-generation that had been reared under identical laboratory conditions.