Behavioral evolutionary ecology - with applications to freshwater stream fish [Ecologia comportamental evolutiva aplicada a peixes de riacho]

Abstract

Direct field observation constitutes an important source of information on life history and behavior of stream fish. Unfortunately, information gathered from direct field observations are often limited and thus may fail to provide robust testing for the causation of biological phenomena. Here, we bring concepts that form the theoretical foundation necessary for raising hypotheses in Evolutionary Behavioral Ecology, a study area directly derived from natural history and ethology that directly incorporates evolutionary processes and the adaptative value of behavioral patterns observed. This perspective allows the analysis of the evolutionary context and the adaptive value of observed behavioral patterns, and serves as the basis for new hypotheses that can be applied to many groups of organisms. Using this framework, field observations and experiments encompassing freshwater stream fish have subsidized many theories on the evolution of behavioral and morphological traits that are widespread debated by scientific community. After presenting the main key concepts, we bring some examples of research programs with freshwater fish that culminated in the formulation of important theories and where scientists took advantage of the opportunities provided by stream fish to conduct observations, samplings and controlled experiments both in the field and in captivity. We also describe our own research program, which uses an Amazonian freshwater stream fish (Crenuchus spilurus) as a model organism. By doing so, we advocate for the use of several methods and analyses for the study of Evolutionary Behavioral Ecology of freshwater stream fish. © 2021, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. All rights reserved.