Predicting the impacts of chemical pollutants on animal groups

Michelangeli, Marcus; Martin, Jake M.; Pinter‐Wollman, Noa; Ioannou, Christos C.; McCallum, Erin S.; Brodin, Tomas

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2022.05.009

Cited by 36 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 107 publications

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“…Here we show that an inorganic compound generally thought to be safe for aquatic environments and used actively in remediation can not only disrupt chemical communication in these closely related sympatric swordtails, but actually causes a switch in preference from the conspecific to heterospecific, a scenario that may promote ongoing gene flow. This study adds to the growing body of evidence that sublethal concentrations of pollutants can have unforeseen ecological and evolutionary consequences [8,9,57–60].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

A widely-used pollutant causes reversal of conspecific mate preference in a freshwater fish

Powell

Rose

Rosenthal

2022

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Chemical communication is an important mechanism of mate choice across the animal tree of life. However, anthropogenic perturbation of the signaling environment can disrupt chemical communication and result in a breakdown of behavioral reproductive isolation. Here we find that calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2), a common and deliberately introduced anthropogenic pollutant, profoundly disrupts chemical communication in the swordtail fish Xiphophorus birchmanni. Moreover, it acts in a way that should promote hybridization, causing female X. birchmanni to prefer the chemical cues of the parapatric sister species X. malinche. We find that this flip in the direction of preference is attributable both to a reduced preference for conspecific signals and to a coupled strengthening of preference for sister-species signals.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

A widely-used pollutant causes reversal of conspecific mate preference in a freshwater fish

Powell

Rose

Rosenthal

2022

Preprint

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“…In future applications, this method could be used to compare sites with distinct differences, for example, polluted versus pristine environments. The effects of environmental factors other than the ones we have looked at here, such as chemical pollutants (Michelangeli et al, 2022) or anthropogenic noise (Sarà et al, 2007;Purser and Radford, 2011;Voellmy et al, 2014aVoellmy et al, , 2014b, could also be investigated, as well as considering multiple stressors (Ormerod et al, 2010;Ginnaw et al, 2020). Additionally, hypotheses could explore more biotic factors in the environment, such as predation risk (Ioannou, 2021) or invasive species (Strayer et al, 2006).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The impact of temperature is often confounded with oxygen concentrations, where in hypoxic conditions reduced shoaling is caused by a trade-off between maintaining close, cohesive shoals and accessing oxygen (Domenici et al ., 2002; Israeli, 1996; Moss and MacFarland, 1970). Hypoxia can also be a result of eutrophication (Hagy et al ., 2004; Rydberg et al ., 1990), and similar impacts can be found as a response to chemical pollutants, where chemicals interfere with physiology and can reduce social interactions (Webber and Haines, 2003; Brodin et al ., 2013; Michelangeli et al ., 2022). The masking, distraction, and stress effects caused by environmental change rarely occur in isolation, they can influence social behaviour in different and combined ways, and field studies can help elucidate the impacts of such change on natural freshwater populations and environments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A novel method for investigating fish social behaviour in the field

Clark

Ioannou

2022

Preprint

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Field studies of social behaviour are challenging due to having to observe multiple individuals simultaneously. In aquatic environments, these challenges are often amplified by environmental conditions such as habitat complexity, turbidity or darkness, which are often the conditions of interest in the context of studying anthropogenic impacts. Many fish species rely on social interactions for at least part of their life cycle, and while these interactions are known from laboratory studies to be impacted by environmental factors, approaches to quantify social behaviour under natural conditions are limited. Here, we present a novel method whereby multiple funnel traps are deployed simultaneously within a pond to quantify the aggregation and assortment of wild fish populations, using three-spine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) as a model species. The number of sticklebacks caught decreased in lower temperatures and through the seasons, from May to November. There was some evidence for decreases in fish numbers with reduced light intensity and higher dissolved oxygen levels. No effect of turbidity was found. The only evidence for changes in aggregation was related to the proportion of breeding males caught, where sticklebacks were less aggregated during the breeding season. These trends are expected based on previous work and knowledge about stickleback biology, validating the method. However, in contrast to previous studies, we found little evidence for phenotypic assortment. This study establishes a new cost-effective technique for investigating the social behaviour of wild fish, with some important benefits over existing techniques.

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“…Exposure to pharmaceuticals can also produce sublethal effects, including altering development, morphology, physiology, metabolism, and reproductive traits. 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 A growing body of research is also demonstrating that exposure to pharmaceuticals can affect animal behavior, 19 , 20 which can have fitness consequences for individuals living in contaminated habitats. 21 For example, European perch ( Perca fluviatilis ) exposed to the anxiolytic drug oxazepam show altered feeding behavior, 22 and European starlings ( Sturnus vulgaris ) exposed to estrogenic pharmaceuticals develop longer and more attractive mating calls.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… 23 There has been a recent call for experiments in behavioral ecotoxicology to reflect more realistic social complexity, that is to evaluate the effect of chemical pollutants on groups of organisms and their interactions, rather than on single organisms in isolation. 20 , 24 In this respect, predator-prey interactions are an aspect of many species’ natural behavioral expression, involving multiple individuals from multiple species, that remains understudied in behavioral ecotoxicology.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%