Hydrogen sulfide exposure reduces thermal set point in zebrafish

Behavioural flexibility allows ectotherms to exploit the environment to govern their metabolic physiology, including in response to environmental stress. Hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) is a widespread environmental toxin that can lethally inhibit metabolism. However, H 2 S can also alter behaviour and physiology, including a hypothesized induction of hibernation-like states characterized by downward shifts of the innate thermal set point (anapyrexia). Support for this hypothesis has proved controversial because it is difficult to isolate active and passive components of thermoregulation, especially in animals with high resting metabolic heat production. Here, we directly test this hypothesis by leveraging the natural behavioural thermoregulatory drive of fish to move between environments of different temperatures in accordance with their current physiological state and thermal preference. We observed a decrease in adult zebrafish ( Danio rerio ) preferred body temperature with exposure to 0.02% H 2 S, which we interpret as a shift in the thermal set point. Individuals exhibited consistent differences in shuttling behaviour and preferred temperatures, which were reduced by a constant temperature magnitude during H 2 S exposure. Seeking lower temperatures alleviated H 2 S-induced metabolic stress, as measured by reduced rates of aquatic surface respiration. Our findings highlight the interactions between individual variation and sublethal impacts of environmental toxins on behaviour.

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“…Data accessibility. Data are available from the Dryad Digital Repository at https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.vq83bk3pj [40]. Authors' contributions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrogen sulfide exposure reduces thermal set point in zebrafish

et al. 2020

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“…For example, while high nitrate levels can reduce swimming speed and duration in juvenile silver perch, Bidyanus bidyanu (Mitchell, 1838), the effects can depend on or be masked by changes in temperature (Isaza et al ., 2020). Other environmental toxins can impact the preferred temperatures of fish (Petersen & Steffensen, 2003; Skandalis et al ., 2020).…”

Section: Towards a More Refined Understanding Of Pementioning

confidence: 99%

Physical enrichment research for captive fish: Time to focus on the DETAILS

Jones

Webster

Salvanes

2021

Journal of Fish Biology

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Growing research effort has shown that physical enrichment (PE) can improve fish welfare and research validity. However, the inclusion of PE does not always result in positive effects and conflicting findings have highlighted the many nuances involved. Effects are known to depend on species and life stage tested, but effects may also vary with differences in the specific items used as enrichment between and within studies. Reporting fine‐scale characteristics of items used as enrichment in studies may help to reveal these factors. We conducted a survey of PE‐focused studies published in the last 5 years to examine the current state of methodological reporting. The survey results suggest that some aspects of enrichment are not adequately detailed. For example, the amount and dimensions of objects used as enrichment were frequently omitted. Similarly, the ecological relevance, or other justification, for enrichment items was frequently not made explicit. Focusing on ecologically relevant aspects of PE and increasing the level of detail reported in studies may benefit future work and we propose a framework with the acronym DETAILS (Dimensions, Ecological rationale, Timing of enrichment, Amount, Inputs, Lighting and Social environment). We outline the potential importance of each of the elements of this framework with the hope it may aid in the level of reporting and standardization across studies, ultimately aiding the search for more beneficial types of PE and the development of our understanding and ability to improve the welfare of captive fish and promote more biologically relevant behaviour.

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Shuttle-box systems for studying preferred environmental ranges by aquatic animals

Christensen

Andersen

Bergsson

et al. 2021

Conservation Physiology

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Animals’ selection of environments within a preferred range is key to understanding their habitat selection, tolerance to stressors and responses to environmental change. For aquatic animals, preferred environmental ranges can be studied in so-called shuttle-boxes, where an animal can choose its ambient environment by shuttling between separate choice chambers with differences in an environmental variable. Over time, researchers have refined the shuttle-box technology and applied them in many different research contexts, and we here review the use of shuttle-boxes as a research tool with aquatic animals over the past 50 years. Most studies on the methodology have been published in the latest decade, probably due to an increasing research interest in the effects of environmental change, which underlines the current popularity of the system. The shuttle-box has been applied to a wide range of research topics with regards to preferred ranges of temperature, CO2, salinity and O2in a vast diversity of species, showing broad applicability for the system. We have synthesized the current state-of-the-art of the methodology and provided best practice guidelines with regards to setup, data analyses, experimental design and study reporting. We have also identified a series of knowledge gaps, which can and should be addressed in future studies. We conclude with highlighting directions for research using shuttle-boxes within evolutionary biology and behavioural and physiological ecology.

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Hydrogen sulfide exposure reduces thermal set point in zebrafish

Cited by 3 publications

References 35 publications

Hydrogen sulfide exposure reduces thermal set point in zebrafish

Hydrogen sulfide exposure reduces thermal set point in zebrafish

Physical enrichment research for captive fish: Time to focus on the DETAILS

Shuttle-box systems for studying preferred environmental ranges by aquatic animals

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