title: Coordination of behavioral hierarchies during environmental transitions inCaenorhabditis elegans.
abstract: For animals inhabiting multiple environments, the ability to select appropriate behaviors is crucial as their adaptability is often context dependent.Caenorhabditis elegansuses distinct gaits to move on land and in water. Gait transitions can potentially coordinate behaviors associated with distinct environments. We investigated whether land and water differentially affect the behavioral repertoire ofC. elegans. Swimming worms interrupted foraging, feeding, egg-laying and defecation. Exogenous dopamine induced bouts of these land-associated behaviors in water. Our finding that worms do not drink fluid while immersed may explain why higher drug doses are required in water than on land to elicit the same effects.C. elegansis a valid model to study behavioral hierarchies and how environmental pressures alter their balance.
authors.affiliation: Section of Neurobiology; Waggoner Center for Alcohol and Addiction Research; University of Texas at Austin; Austin, TX USA.
authors.forename: Andrés G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Vidal-Gadea
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: Lindsay
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.forename: Jonathan T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Pierce-Shimomura
keywords: crawling; defecation rhythm; egg-laying; environmental transitions; foraging; omega bends; pharyngeal pumping; reversals; swimming