Data from: Teasing apart the many effects of lighting environment on opsin expression and foraging preference in bluefin killifish

Coloration and color vision covary with lighting in many taxa. Determining the mechanisms underlying these patterns is difficult because lighting environments can have multiple effects on signaling that occur at multiple time scales. Lighting environments can (1) immediately affect signal propagation and transmission which determine the radiance spectrum reaching the receiver, (2) induce variation in visual systems via developmental plasticity, and (3) lead to genetic differences in visual systems due to a history of selection in different habitats. We tease apart these effects on pecking preference and examine the relationship between pecking preference and opsin expression. Using killifish from two visually distinct populations (clear vs. tea-stained water), we performed crosses (genetics), raised animals under different lighting conditions (developmental plasticity), and assayed preference to peck at different colored dots under different lighting conditions (immediate effects). Pecks are interpreted as foraging preference. Developmental plasticity affected both pecking preference and opsin expression. Lighting environments also had immediate effects on pecking preference, but these depended on the lighting conditions animals experienced during development. Genetic effects were detected in opsin expression, but there were no corresponding effects on pecking preference. Overall, only 3.36% of the variation in pecking preference was accounted for by opsin expression.诸多类群（taxa）的体色与色觉均与光照环境存在协同变化关系。阐明此类模式的内在作用机制颇具难度，这是因为光照环境对信号传递的影响可发生于多个时间尺度，且存在多种作用路径：其一，直接影响信号的传播与传递过程，进而决定抵达接收者的辐射光谱（radiance spectrum）；其二，通过发育可塑性（developmental plasticity）使视觉系统产生变异；其三，因不同生境的选择历史，导致视觉系统出现遗传分化。本研究对光照环境在啄食偏好（pecking preference）上的三类影响进行了区分，并探讨了啄食偏好与视蛋白（opsin）表达量之间的关联。本研究选取来自两个视觉环境迥异的鳉鱼种群（清水环境与茶褐色水环境），通过杂交实验（遗传学维度）、在不同光照条件下饲养实验个体以探究发育可塑性效应，并在不同光照环境下检测实验对象对不同颜色圆点的啄食偏好，以此剖析三类效应各自的作用。实验中的啄食行为被视作觅食偏好的表征。发育可塑性同时对啄食偏好与视蛋白表达量产生了影响。光照环境同样对啄食偏好存在直接效应，但此类效应取决于实验个体发育阶段所经历的光照环境。视蛋白表达量检测到了遗传效应，但啄食偏好并未出现与之对应的遗传影响。总体而言，视蛋白表达量仅能解释啄食偏好3.36%的变异量。