Effects of environmental enrichment on learning and memory in fish: neural, epigenetic and behavioral implications

• Grant number: 19/19952-8
• Support type: Regular Research Grants
• Duration: June 01, 2020 - May 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Fishery Resources and Fishery Engineering - Aquaculture
• Principal researcher: Percilia Cardoso Giaquinto
• Grantee: Percilia Cardoso Giaquinto
• Home Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IBB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil
• Assoc. researchers: Rafael Henrique Nóbrega
• Associated scholarship(s): 21/03626-4 - Effects of environmental enrichment on fish welfare: learning, memory and stress attenuation, BP.TT

Abstract

Animal welfare can be achieved through Environmental Enrichment, which aims to provide a better quality of life for farmed and captive animals and consists of a set of techniques designed to modify the environment, providing comfort and behavioral satisfaction to the animals. Environmental Enrichment (EE) aims to provide a suitable breeding environment, with minimal stress and meeting the behavioral needs of individuals. Such environmental manipulation is responsible for the exposure of animals to new and complex situations that generate sensory, cognitive and physical stimuli. These in turn can interfere with the learning process, neurological development and altered behavioral responses. Within the precepts of animal welfare, the literature is still hyperferenced in rodent study models, which causes gaps in knowledge and the lack of an evolutionary approach. The use of multiple species to study a biological phenomenon can enable the understanding of evolutionary aspects and this study strategy allows identifying common mechanisms among different species, as well as overlapping characteristics between them. Moreover, it allows the application of the concept of animal welfare beyond mammals and birds, since fish production has been growing together with the increase of animal production for human consumption, there is the prospect of fish raised under welfare conditions and better life quality. In this project I propose the use of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) as an animal model to understand the effect of environmental enrichment on learning and memory processes, investigating the behavioral and neural aspects of these processes, as well as the application of EE in aquaculture. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

CAMARGO-DOS-SANTOS, BRUNO; CARLOS, CLARISSA LEROIS; FAVERO-NETO, JOAO; CAPELINI ALVES, NINA PACHECO; GONCALVES, BRUNO BASTOS; GIAQUINTO, PERCILIA CARDOSO. Welfare in Nile Tilapia Production: Dorsal Fin Erection as a Visual Indicator for Insensibility. ANIMALS, v. 11, n. 10 OCT 2021. Web of Science Citations: 0.