Aneesh P. H. Bose, PhD
Ecology, Evolution, and Animal Behaviour
Integrative research on animal Behavioural Strategies
I am a behavioural ecologist and fish biologist whose research strives to understand the ecological and evolutionary drivers of social and reproductive behaviour in animals. I primarily use fish as my model organisms because fish display an incredible diversity of behaviours. Not only this, but many fish species can be studied in both the lab and the field, they live in some of the most amazing places in the world, and they’re just plain fun to work with!
Some of the intertwined research questions that I like to ask include:
What can offspring parentage tell us about evolution and the environment?
How do parents balance the costs and benefits of caring for offspring?
How might environmental pollutants act as agents of evolutionary change?
How and why do fish employ alternative mating tactics?
(See the below sections for further details)
Parentage… Brothers (or sisters) from another mother (or father)
Characterizing the division of reproduction through the lens of parentage is integral for understanding patterns of selection. Whether it is males vying with one another to fertilize eggs, parents caring for offspring in family groups, or individuals forming long-lasting and complex relationships in animal societies, the same important question helps us shed light on many behaviours we see in nature: who reproduces with whom?
Example publications:
Bose APH, Dunster B, Henshaw J, Koch L, Grimm J, Sefc KM, Jordan A (2025). Habitat differences in resource density and distribution affect ecology and life history of a landscape-modifying fish. Molecular Ecology 34(22): e70145 [paper]
Bose APH, Dabernig-Heinz J, Koch L, Grimm J, Lang S, Hegedűs B, Banda T, Makasa L, Jordan A, Sefc KM (2022). Parentage analysis across age cohorts reveals sex differences in reproductive skew in a group-living cichlid fish, Neolamprologus multifasciatus. Molecular Ecology 31:2418-2434. [paper]
Zimmermann H, Fritzsche K, Henshaw JM, Katongo C, Banda T, Makasa L, Sefc KM, Bose APH (2019). Nest defense in the face of cuckoldry: Evolutionary rather than facultative adaptation to chronic paternity loss. BMC Evolutionary Biology 19: 200. [paper]
Parental care… Sometimes kids are worth the effort, but other times not
Animals display an amazing diversity of parental care strategies – while some animals do not care at all for their young, others are prepared to care for and protect their offspring with their lives. Furthermore, while some parents care for all their offspring equally, others pick favourites and may even abandon, kill, or cannibalise some of their young. What drives such variation within and among species? My research program strives to understand the factors that explain how much a parent should care for their babies, and why some parents engage in rather surprising parental behaviours.
Example publications:
Zimmermann H, Sefc KM, Bose APH (2023). Single fathers sacrifice their broods and re-mate quickly in a socially monogamous cichlid. Behavioral Ecology 34(5): 881-890. [paper]
Bose APH (2022) Parent-offspring cannibalism throughout the animal kingdom: A review of adaptive hypotheses. Biological Reviews 97(5), 1868-1885. [paper]
Zimmermann H, Bose APH, Ziegelbecker A, Richter F, Bracun S, Natmessnig H, Katongo C, Banda T, Makasa L, Henshaw JM, Fritzsche K, Sefc KM (2021). Is biparental defence driven by territory protection, offspring protection, or both? Animal Behaviour 176: 43-56. [paper]
Bose APH, Lau M, Cogliati KM, Neff B, Balshine S. (2019). Cannibalism of young is related to low paternity and nest takeovers in an intertidal fish. Animal Behaviour 153: 41-48. [paper]
Jindal S*, Bose APH*, O'Connor CM, Balshine S (2017). A test of male infanticide as a reproductive tactic in a cichlid fish. Royal Society Open Science 4(3): 160891. *Co-first authors [paper]
Comprehending man-made horrors… How do pollutants impact evolution?
Chemical pollution is rapidly increasing and diversifying across the globe. Many chemical pollutants have a strong potential to affect the fitness of wild animals by altering their physiology and behaviour. Yet we know little about how chemical exposures can lead ultimately to altered selection regimes for populations. A major question is therefore: can chemicals in the environment act as novel agents of evolutionary change, and if so, how?
Example publications:
McCallum ES, Cerveny D, Bose APH, Fick J, Brodin T (2023). Cost-effective pharmaceutical implants in fish: validating the performance of slow-release implants for the antidepressant fluoxetine. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 42(6): 1326-1336. [paper]
Bose APH, McCallum ES, Avramović M, Bertram MG, Blom E, Cerveny D, Grønlund SN, Leander J, Lundberg P, Martin JM, Michelangeli M, Persson L, Brodin T (2022). Pharmaceutical pollution disrupts the behaviour and predator–prey interactions of two widespread aquatic insects. iScience 25(12): 105672. [paper]
McCallum ES, Dey CJ, Cerveny D, Bose APH, Brodin T (2021). Social status modulates the behavioural and physiological consequences of a chemical pollutant in animal groups. Ecological Applications 31(8), e02454. [paper]
McCallum ES, Bose APH, Warriner TR, Balshine S (2017). An evaluation of behavioural endpoints: The pharmaceutical pollutant fluoxetine decreases aggression across multiple contexts in round goby (Neogobius melanostomus). Chemosphere 175: 401-410. [paper]
Releasing fish with Marcus Michelangeli during a pharmaceutical exposure study in the wild (photo credit: Erin McCallum)
Alternative mating tactics… Sneaking, deceit, and cuckoldry
As the adage goes, “there’s more than one way to peel an orange” (or use your own preferred vernacular), and nature has found this to be true for animal reproduction as well. In many species, same-sex individuals can adopt different tactics to achieve reproduction. For example, sometimes males may seek to reproduce by courting females or providing them with nuptial gifts, while at other times males may choose to avoid this hassle and attempt to reproduce coercively or surreptitiously. In some species, individuals may even express specialized morphology and physiology allowing them to maximize the benefits they get by pursuing one mating tactic (e.g., through sneak fertilizations as opposed to mate attraction and courtship). I am interested in what drives variation in the use of different mating tactics.
Example publications:
Zimmermann H, Bose APH, Eisner H, Henshaw JM, Ziegelbecker A, Richter F, Bračun S, Katongo C, Fritzsche K, Sefc KM (2023). Seasonal variation in cuckoldry rates in the socially monogamous cichlid fish Variabilichromis moorii. Hydrobiologia 1-13. [paper]
Bose APH, Henshaw JM, Zimmermann H, Fritzsche K, Sefc KM (2019). Inclusive fitness benefits mitigate costs of cuckoldry to socially paired males. BMC Biology 17(2). [paper]
McCallum ES*, Bose APH*, Lobban N, Marentette J, Pettitt-Wade H, Koops M, Fisk A, Balshine S (2019). Alternative reproductive tactics, an overlooked source of life history variation in the invasive Round Goby. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 76(9), 1562-1570. *Co-first authors [paper]
Bose APH, Zimmermann H, Henshaw JM, Fritzsche K, Sefc KM (2018). Brood-tending males in a biparental fish suffer high paternity losses but rarely cuckold. Molecular Ecology 27(21): 4309-4321. [paper]
Education and employment
B.Sc. - Marine and Freshwater Biology, University of Guelph, Canada (2008 - 2011).
Ph.D. with Dr. Sigal Balshine - Behavioural Ecology, McMaster University, Canada (2012 - 2017).
Postdoc with Dr. Kristina Sefc - University of Graz, Austria (2017 - 2018).
Postdoc with Dr. Alex Jordan - Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Konstanz, Germany (2018 - 2022).
Postdoc with Dr. Tomas Brodin - Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden (2022 - 2024).
Researcher at the Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Environmental Studies, University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden (2024 - present).