Individuals Are Individual

Well, duh. Of course individuals are individual; that’s why we call them ‘individuals,’ not ’sames.’

But apparently there are quite a few scientists — you know, those people trained to be objectively observant? — who find this ‘individual’ thing surprising:

A lab is a lab is a lab. A mouse is a mouse is a mouse. So if you test genetically identically strains of mice in the sterile, controlled, homogeneous confines of a lab in Toledo, Ohio and run the same experiment again in a lab in Berlin, you should get the same results. Not necessarily, according to a just published study in the British science journal Nature Methods, which presents strong evidence that researchers’ current practice of trying to limit variations in laboratories is a fundamental flaw of experimental design, one that increases errors in early drug development tests and in turn drives up the cost of pharmaceutical development.

In their study, Joseph Garner, a Purdue assistant professor of animal sciences and his colleague professor Hanno Wurbel of the Justus-Liebig University of Giessen in Germany observed behavioral differences in three different strains of mice in three different labs in two different types of cages at three different times of year — variations that are not controlled for or currently expected to affect the outcome of an experiment. The team found 10 times more false positives, where one strain appears to act differently from another at rates higher than expected. 

– from The Unraveling of Homogeny by David Nayor (Apr 9, 2009) in Seed magazine

And, amazingly enough, individual birds of a species are not all identical either! Imagine that:

“This is the first study in a natural bird population to study the relationship between trappability and behavioral syndromes,” Garamszegi says.

To see whether collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis) have behavioral syndromes, Garamszegi, then at the University of Antwerp in Belgium, and his colleagues worked with flycatchers living in nest boxes near Pilis Field Station in Hungary.

In a test for readiness to cope with novelty, researchers assessed each male’s typical behavior by placing a live female in a cage at his nest box. Then researchers attached a novel object, a piece of white paper, to the male’s nest box and watched to see how curiously he explored the oddity.

To grade birds’ willingness to take risks, researchers determined how close a bird would let them approach. And for aggressive tendencies, the researchers observed how vigorously a territory holder objected to the arrival of a caged male.

With these data, researchers found links between the behaviors in different contexts. Birds willing to explore and cope with that novel piece of paper were also likely to take more risks, letting researchers get closer.

After trying to trap the birds, the researchers linked both traits to a higher tendency to get caught. Researchers then redid their behavioral syndrome analyses, dropping data from the birds that couldn’t be caught. Losing the shy birds changed some of the results.

“Your capturing method really influences the outcome of your study,” Garamszegi says. “When you have a different sample, you may find completely different biological patterns.”

Sampling issues will differ depending on the animal, says Chad Johnson of Arizona State University in Glendale, who studies personalities in spiders. “For myself, I always wondered with fishing spiders if I was only collecting the truly lazy, unreactive spiders that did not submerge under water when they heard me coming.”

Ann Hedrick of the University of California, Davis, who studies behavioral syndromes in crickets, says the new work “draws attention to an important consideration in designing future studies.”

– from Oh, He’s Such a Lab Bird, by Susan Milius (Apr 10, 2009) in ScienceNews

Scientists who have no clue about animals should not be working with animals. I know that “have no clue” is not exactly a scientific phrase, but you know what I mean. At least I hope you do.

-Julie

http://www.unrealnature.com/