The evolution of plasticity in brain morphology following colonization of an ecologically divergent habitat in Trinidadian guppies

Natural environments are constantly changing. To survive, organisms will either need to rapidly adapt to new conditions or colonize new habitats. Colonization has been hypothesized to select for increased plasticity as well as increased brain size, though empirical tests of these effects have proven difficult to evaluate. In particular, the degree to which plasticity of brain morphology can evolve, and its subsequent ecological consequences have rarely been explored. Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata) are known for their repeated adaptation to ancestral high-predation (HP) and derived low-predation (LP) environments. We used this system to examine the evolution and plasticity of brain morphology. We exposed second-generation offspring of individuals collected from HP and LP sites to two different kinds of environmental treatments: predation cues and conspecific social environment. We found that guppies descended from a colonized LP habitat showed greater plasticity in brain morph..., Data aquired via analysis of brain region volumes and brain mass of Trinidadian guppies raised in a plasticity experiment. , , The evolution of plasticity in brain morphology following colonization of an ecologically divergent habitat in Trinidadian guppies: Data description.

This data describes results of a plasticity experiment testing development of brain form across high and low predation source populations of Trinidadian guppies as well as plasticity treatments.

**ID:** Non informative identification

**IDD:** Informative identification

**Family: **Mother identification

**Sex**

**            M:** male, **F:** female

**Source: **Source population from which wild individuals were captured that were then reproduced to form F2 offspring used in the experiment.

            **LP:** low-predation, **HP:** high-predation

**Pred: **Experimental predator treatment.

            **C:** reared in the absence of predator cues, **P:** reared in the presence of predator cues.

**Group: **Experimental sociality treatment.

            **Solo**: reared alone, **Same: **reared in the presence of conspecifics...