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EARLY LIFE SOCIAL ENVIRONMENTS EFFECTS ON BRAIN MORPHOLOGY**

Abstract

Early life social environments can shape brain development in vertebrates. During the embryonic period, the brain is plastic and subject to lasting change. However, the extent of this plasticity on whole-brain morphology is unclear. The mangrove rivulus, Kryptolebias marmoratus, is a self-fertilizing hermaphrodite, which allows environmental changes to be studied on a constant genotype. We hypothesize that the early life social environment has an effect on the development of brain morphology. Using six genotypes, the embryos were kept under different embryonic social densities. 60 days post-hatching , the fish were euthanized, and the brains were removed. Each brain was photographed dorsally and ventrally. Using geometric morphometrics and Procrustes superimposition, the morphology of the brains was analyzed to determine if the variable environments produced variation in brain shape. We predicted that fish reared isolated environments would have a smaller forebrain, while fish exposed more social environments would have a larger forebrain. These results may demonstrate that social cues and interaction during embryonic development and early life may affect brain morphologyespecially in the telencephalon, which is involved in social behavior. This research can further illustrate the importance of early life environments on brain development.

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