Behavioral Changes in a Coastal Marine Fish Lead to Increased Predation Risk Following Oil Exposure

Fishes exposed to crude oil have shown reduced sociability and poor habitat selection, which corresponded with increased predation risk. However, the contribution of oil-induced cardiorespiratory impairments to these findings is uncertain. This study explores the effect of oil exposure on predation...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEnvironmental science & technology Vol. 55; no. 12; pp. 8119 - 8127
Main Authors Khursigara, Alexis J, Rowsey, Lauren E, Johansen, Jacob L, Esbaugh, Andrew J
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Easton American Chemical Society 15.06.2021
Subjects
Acceleration
Animal behavior
Confidence intervals
Crude oil
Ecotoxicology and Public Health
Environmental risk
Exposure
Habitat selection
Marine fish
Mesocosms
Oil
Predation
crude oil
behavior
predator avoidance
swim performance
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Summary:Fishes exposed to crude oil have shown reduced sociability and poor habitat selection, which corresponded with increased predation risk. However, the contribution of oil-induced cardiorespiratory impairments to these findings is uncertain. This study explores the effect of oil exposure on predation risk in a model fish species, Sciaenops ocellatus, across a suite of physiological and behavioral end points to elucidate the mechanisms through which any observed effects are manifested. Using mesocosms to assess group predator avoidance, oil exposure to 36.3 μg l–1 ΣPAH reduced the time to 50% mortality from a mean time of 80.0 (74.1–86.0 95% confidence interval [CI]) min to 39.2 (35.6–42.8 95% CI) min. The influence of oil impaired cardiorespiratory and behavioral pathways on predation risk was assessed based on respiratory performance, swim performance, sociability, and routine activity. Swim trials demonstrated that cardiorespiratory and swim performance were unaffected by exposures to 26.6 or 100.8 μg l–1 ΣPAH. Interestingly, behavioral tests revealed that exposure to 26.6 μg l–1 ΣPAH increased distance moved, speed, acceleration, and burst activity. These data indicate that behavioral impairment is more sensitive than cardiorespiratory injury and may be a more important driver of downstream ecological risk following oil exposure in marine species.
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ISSN:0013-936X
1520-5851
DOI:10.1021/acs.est.0c07945