DOI: 10.5061/dryad.69p8cz978
title: Data from: Turbidity drives plasticity in the eyes and brains of an African cichlid

description: Natural variation in environmental turbidity correlates with variation in
 the visual sensory system of many fishes, suggesting that turbidity may
 act as a strong selective agent on visual systems. Since many aquatic
 systems experience increased turbidity due to anthropogenic perturbations,
 it is important to understand the degree to which fish can respond to
 rapid shifts in their visual environment, and whether such responses can
 occur within the lifetime of an individual. We examined if developmental
 exposure to turbidity (Clear &lt;5 NTU, Turbid ~9 NTU) influenced the
 size of morphological structures associated with vision in the African
 cichlid Pseudocrenilabrus multicolor. Parental fish were collected from
 two sites (clear swamp, turbid river) in western Uganda. F1 broods from
 each population were split and reared under clear and turbid rearing
 treatments until maturity. We measured morphological traits associated
 with the visual sensory system (eye diameter, pupil diameter, axial
 length, brain mass, optic tectum volume) over the course of development.
 Age was significant in explaining variation in visual traits even when
 standardized for body size, suggesting an ontogenetic shift in the
 relative size of eyes and brains. When age groups were analyzed
 separately, young fish reared in turbid water grew larger eyes than fish
 reared in clear conditions. Population was important in the older age
 category, with swamp-origin fish having relatively larger eyes and optic
 lobes relative to river-origin fish. Plastic responses during development
 of fish may be important in responding to a more variable visual
 environment associated with anthropogenically induced turbidity.
description: # Data from: Turbidity drives plasticity in the eyes and brains of an
 African cichlid This file contains metadata for two files used in five
 Rscripts associated with this manuscript. #### README: rawdata.xlsx used
 in sizestd.R, biometric-table-cichlid.R All code is provided for the
 analyses as described in the manuscript. Pseudocrenilabrus multicolor
 (haplochromine cichlid fish) were collected from two sites in western
 Uganda and used as the parental population for a experiment that looked at
 visual morphology in response to rearing treatment (clear vs. turbid) over
 development. Each row in the dataset represents metrics for a single fish.
 Variable Description ID individual number assigned to each fish Population
 coded for variable for each Population (1=River, 2=Swamp) Rearing coded
 for variable for rearing treatment (1=Turbid, 2=Clear) Brood brood
 identifier Age age of fish in days SL standard length of fish (mm) Weight
 mass of fish (g) ED eye diameter (mm) PD pupil diameter (mm) AX axial
 length (mm) BW brain weight (mg) OT optic tectum volume (mm3)
 Final_age_group final age group used in analysis (young, old) #### README:
 standardizeddata.csv used in brain-eye-cichlid-analysis.R,
 rxn-norms-cichlid-figure.R, pca-cichlid-analysis.R All code is provided
 for the analyses as described in the manuscript. Pseudocrenilabrus
 multicolor (haplochromine cichlid fish) were collected from two sites in
 western Uganda and used as the parental population for a experiment that
 looked at visual morphology in response to rearing treatment (clear vs.
 turbid) over development. Each row in the dataset represents metrics for a
 single fish. Variable Description ID individual number assigned to each
 fish Population coded for variable for each Population (1=River, 2=Swamp)
 Rearing coded for variable for rearing treatment (1=Turbid, 2=Clear) Brood
 brood identifier Age age of fish in days Age_group age group broken into 4
 categories (youngest, young, old, oldest) SL standard length of fish (mm)
 ED_std eye diameter (mm) standardized to standard length PD_std pupil
 diameter (mm) standardized to standard length AX_std axial length (mm)
 standardized to standard length BW_std brain weight (mg) standardized to
 standard length OT_std optic tectum volume (mm3) standardized to brain
 weight Final_age_group final age group used in analysis (young, old)