Effect of water temperature on laboratory swimming performance and natural activity levels of adult largemouth bass

Abstract

Although locomotory performance in vertebrates is related to fitness, most performance tests are conducted in a laboratory setting, or in a manner that forces the organism to move not of their own volition. Biotelemetry offers the possibility to measure voluntary activity in a natural setting and provides the opportunity to combine laboratory-derived data with field studies on wild fish. In this study, it was found that laboratory-and field-based measurements of swimming performance and voluntary activity resulted in similar general seasonal trends, though each measurement assessed a different swimming type. In the field, all swimming metrics were lower at cooler water temperatures and were lowest during early winter (mean daily activity = 0.016 BL/s; mean voluntary swimming activity = 0.04319 BL/s; maximum swimming speed = 0.17 BL/s). In the laboratory, fish acclimatized to 25.0, 14.0, and 7.5 8C decreased swimming performance (Ucrit) with water temperature (25.0 8C (2.17 BL/s); 14.0 8C (1.69 BL/s); 7.5 8C (1.17 BL/s). Although some species and tissues have been shown to exhibit different degrees of thermal adaptation, these results show that swimming, one of the most important functions in fish, is largely dependent on environmental temperature, at least in largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides (Lacepède, 1802)).Résumé : Bien que la performance de locomotion chez les vertébrés soit reliée à la fitness, la plupart des tests de performance sont faits dans un milieu de laboratoire ou dans une situation qui force les animaux à se déplacer, donc pas de leur propre volonté. La biotélémétrie permet de mesurer l'activité volontaire dans un milieu naturel et fournit l'occasion de combiner les données obtenues en laboratoire et les études sur le terrain de poissons sauvages. Dans notre travail, les mesures en laboratoire et sur le terrain de performance de nage et d'activité volontaire montrent les mêmes tendances saisonnières générales, bien que chaque mesure évalue un type de nage différent. En nature, toutes les métriques de nage sont plus basses aux températures d'eau plus fraîches et sont minimales au début de l'hiver (activité journalière moyenne = 0,016 BL/s; activité volontaire moyenne de nage = 0,04319 BL/s; vitesse de nage maximale = 0,17 BL/s, où BL est la longueur du corps). En laboratoire, les poissons acclimatés à 25,0, 14,0 et 7,5 8C diminuent leur performance de nage (U crit ) en fonction de la température de l'eau (25,0 8C (2,17 BL/s); 14,0 8C (1,69 BL/s); 7,5 8C (1,17 BL/s)). Bien qu'on ait dé-montré que certaines espèces et certains tissus présentent des degrés divers d'adaptation thermique, nos résultats établissent que la nage, une des fonctions les plus importantes chez les poissons, est en grande partie dépendante de la température du milieu, au moins chez les achigans à grande bouche (Micropterus salmoides (Lacepède, 1802)).[Traduit par la Rédaction]

Tracking animals in freshwater with electronic tags: past, present and future

“…If configured with a minimum of three time-synchronized hydrophones, hyperbolic navigation using time difference in signal arrival can be used to generate highly accurate and precise animal positions [42,70]. To date, there are only a few published examples using such technology in freshwater, which have focused on questions of spatial distribution and variation in temporal activity [26,27,77], but many projects using that approach are now underway, including some that use relatively inexpensive technology to look at simultaneous fine-scale movements of multiple individuals [78]. Passive PIT telemetry arrays (discussed below) have also provided similar benefits.…”

Welfare assessment of rainbow trout reared in a Recirculating Aquaculture System: Comparison with a Flow-Through System

“…In fish farms, it is generally admitted that disruptions of swimming behavior or of fish shoal cohesion within the tank is a relevant indicator of stress. The swimming behavior of a shoal can be modified by various environmental stressors such as poor water quality (Baganz et al, 2005;Davidson et al, 2011a;Santos et al, 2010) or suboptimal temperature (Hasler et al, 2009;Quigley and Hinch, 2006). Although group behavior is a sensitive and simple welfare indicator for fish farmers, it is more difficult to evaluate the mental state of each individual, though this could provide crucial information for describing individual's wellbeing.…”

Skeletal muscle contractile function predicts activity and behaviour in zebrafish

“…Together, muscle mechanics and swimming performance explained a significant proportion of variation in activity. The role of muscle mechanics we show here is novel, but swimming performance is also associated with activity and behaviour in other species of fish both in the laboratory and in the wild (Hasler et al, 2009;McDonald et al, 2007;Plaut, 2001). An interesting question is how activity relates to dispersal in an ecologically relevant context (Clobert et al, 2009).…”

“…Maximal speeds may be important ecologically under certain circumstances, such as when defending territories or escaping predators . However, animals under undisturbed conditions often do not move at their maximal capacity (Hasler et al, 2009;Husak, 2006;McDonald et al, 2007;Irschick and Losos, 1998;Irschick et al, 2005;Palstra et al, 2010;Wickler et al, 2000). Our data showing that voluntary speed changes linearly with maximal speed is interesting because it suggests that there is a mechanistic link between the two.…”