Does intraspecific competition cause oxidative stress? Influence of biotic and abiotic factors on antioxidant system of an invasive round goby

• Published in: Ecology and evolution Vol. 13; no. 12; pp. e10795 - n/a
• Main Authors: Błońska, Dagmara, Tarkan, Ali Serhan, Janic, Bartosz, Tszydel, Mariusz, Bukowska, Bożena
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.12.2023; John Wiley and Sons Inc; Wiley
• Subjects: Abiotic factors; Aggression; antioxidant defence; Antioxidants; Biotic factors; Catalase; Competition; Ecophysiology; Enzymes; External stimuli; Fish behavior; Glutathione; Heat shock; High temperature; intraspecific interactions; Intrusion; Invasive fish; invasive species; Lipid peroxidation; Lipids; Males; Metabolism; Neogobius melanostomus; oxidative damage; Oxidative stress; Parameters; Peroxidation; Predation; Shelters; Neogobius melanostomus; oxidative damage; antioxidant defence; intraspecific interactions; invasive species
• ISSN: 2045-7758; 2045-7758
• DOI: 10.1002/ece3.10795

Changes in oxidative status represent organismal response to stressful external stimuli. While there is substantial knowledge on the influence of abiotic factors on the antioxidant system of different organisms, the impact of biotic factors remains largely unexplored. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of acute competitive interactions on oxidative stress. Territory‐resident and intruder round goby Neogobius melanostomus individuals were experimentally subjected to competition for limited shelter resource in three treatments (lasting 1, 6 and 12 h), and oxidative stress parameters (total antioxidant capacity, catalase activity, reduced glutathione, lipid peroxidation), as well as behaviour (time spent in the shelter, guarding the shelter and aggression) were measured. All tested biochemical parameters reached higher values in the liver than in the muscle tissue. Fish behaviour and antioxidant defence did not show any potential relationships reflecting changes in antioxidant status and aggression. Particularly, there was no difference between resident and intruder fish in oxidative stress parameters. We compared our results to the outcome of our previous studies (similar experimental protocol and species) but with acute heat shock as a stressor instead of competition. The higher temperature was found to be a stronger stressor than the competition, most pronounced in total antioxidant capacity and oxidative damage. We verified the effect of biotic stressor—acute competition regarding oxidative stress parameters in round goby and compared it to abiotic stressor (elevated temperature). Our results demonstrated that acute heat shock elicit a higher response of antioxidant defence than intraspecific interactions.