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Chemical alarm cues are conserved within the coral reef fish family Pomacentridae.

ABSTRACT: Fishes are known to use chemical alarm cues from both conspecifics and heterospecifics to assess local predation risks and enhance predator detection. Yet it is unknown how recognition of heterospecific cues arises for coral reef fishes. Here, we test if naïve juvenile fish have an innate recognition of heterospecific alarm cues. We also examine if there is a relationship between the intensity of the antipredator response to these cues and the degree to which species are related to each other. Naïve juvenile anemone fish, Amphiprion percula, were tested to see if they displayed antipredator responses to chemical alarm cues from four closely related heterospecific species (family Pomacentridae), a distantly related sympatric species (Asterropteryx semipunctatus) and a saltwater (control). Juveniles displayed significant reductions in foraging rate when exposed to all four confamilial heterospecific species but they did not respond to the distantly related sympatric species or the saltwater control. There was also a strong relationship between the intensity of the antipredator response and the extent to which species were related, with responses weakening as species became more distantly related. These findings demonstrate that chemical alarm cues are conserved within the pomacentrid family, providing juveniles with an innate recognition of heterospecific alarm cues as predicted by the phylogenetic relatedness hypothesis.

SUBMITTER: Mitchell MD

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3475700 | biostudies-other | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Chemical alarm cues are conserved within the coral reef fish family Pomacentridae.

Mitchell Matthew D MD Cowman Peter F PF McCormick Mark I MI

PloS one 20121018 10

Fishes are known to use chemical alarm cues from both conspecifics and heterospecifics to assess local predation risks and enhance predator detection. Yet it is unknown how recognition of heterospecific cues arises for coral reef fishes. Here, we test if naïve juvenile fish have an innate recognition of heterospecific alarm cues. We also examine if there is a relationship between the intensity of the antipredator response to these cues and the degree to which species are related to each other. N ...[more]

PMID: 23094047

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Project description:ABSTRACT:Levels of dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2) projected to occur in the world's oceans in the near future have been reported to increase swimming activity and impair predator recognition in coral reef fishes. These behavioral alterations would be expected to have dramatic effects on survival and community dynamics in marine ecosystems in the future. To investigate the universality and replicability of these observations, we used juvenile spiny chromis damselfish (Acanthochromis polyacanthus) to examine the effects of long-term CO2 exposure on routine activity and the behavioral response to the chemical cues of a predator (Cephalopholis urodeta). Commencing at ~3-20 days post-hatch, juvenile damselfish were exposed to present-day CO2 levels (~420 ?atm) or to levels forecasted for the year 2100 (~1000 ?atm) for 3 months of their development. Thereafter, we assessed routine activity before and after injections of seawater (sham injection, control) or seawater-containing predator chemical cues. There was no effect of CO2 treatment on routine activity levels before or after the injections. All fish decreased their swimming activity following the predator cue injection but not following the sham injection, regardless of CO2 treatment. Our results corroborate findings from a growing number of studies reporting limited or no behavioral responses of fishes to elevated CO2. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT:Alarmingly, it has been reported that levels of dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2) forecasted for the year 2100 cause coral reef fishes to be attracted to the chemical cues of predators. However, most studies have exposed the fish to CO2 for very short periods before behavioral testing. Using long-term acclimation to elevated CO2 and automated tracking software, we found that fish exposed to elevated CO2 showed the same behavioral patterns as control fish exposed to present-day CO2 levels. Specifically, activity levels were the same between groups, and fish acclimated to elevated CO2 decreased their swimming activity to the same degree as control fish when presented with cues from a predator. These findings indicate that behavioral impacts of elevated CO2 levels are not universal in coral reef fishes.

Project description:Transcriptional profiling of gene responses in liver in the coral reef fish Pomacentrus moluccensis in response to different types of environmental stress: cold, heat, hypoxic and hyposmotic shock. Goal was to determine the common effects of different types of environmental stress on gene expression as well as responses unique to different stressors. Abstract from Kassahn et al. BMC Genomics (2007) 8:358 Background While our understanding of the importance of transcriptional regulation for biological function is continuously growing, we still know comparatively little about how environmentally-induced stress affects gene expression in vertebrates and how consistent transcriptional stress responses are across different types of environmental stress. Results In this study, we looked for a genetic measure of environmental stress and used a multi-stressor approach to identify components of a common stress response as well as components unique to different types of environmental stress. We exposed individuals of the coral reef fish Pomacentrus moluccensis to hypoxic, hyposmotic, cold and heat shock and measured the responses of approximately 16,000 genes in liver. We also compared winter and summer responses to heat shock to examine the capacity for such responses to vary with acclimation to different ambient temperatures. We identified a series of gene functions that were consistently involved in all stress responses examined here, suggesting common effects of stress on biological function. These common responses were achieved by the regulation of largely independent sets of genes and the responses of individual genes varied greatly across different stress types. However, we were able to identify groups of co-regulated genes, the genes within which shared similar functions. Given current estimates of climatic change, we were particularly interested in the response to prolonged heat exposure. In total, 324 gene loci were differentially expressed following exposure to heat over five days. The functions of these heat-responsive genes suggest that prolonged heat stress leads to oxidative stress and protein damage, challenge of the immune system, and a re-allocation of energy sources. Conclusion This is the first environmental genomic study to measure gene regulation in response to different environmental stressors in a natural population of a warm-adapted ectothermic vertebrate. This study offers insight into the effects of environmental stress on biological function and sheds light on the expected sensitivity of coral reef fishes to elevated temperatures in the future. Keywords: Stress response

Project description:Coral reefs around the world are rapidly degrading due to a range of environmental stressors. Habitat degradation modifies the sensory landscape within which predator-prey interactions occur, with implications for olfactory-mediated behaviours. Predator naïve settlement-stage damselfish rely on conspecific damage-released odours (i.e., alarm odours) to inform risk assessments. Yet, species such as the Ambon damselfish, Pomacentrus amboinensis, become unable to respond appropriately to these cues when living in dead-degraded coral habitats, leading to increased mortality through loss of vigilance. Reef fish predators also rely on odours from damaged prey to locate, assess prey quality and engage in prey-stealing, but it is unknown whether their responses are also modified by the change to dead-degraded coral habitats. Implications for prey clearly depend on how their predatory counterparts are affected, therefore the present study tested whether olfactory-mediated foraging responses in the dusky dottyback, Pseudochromis fuscus, a common predator of P. amboinensis, were similarly affected by coral degradation. A y-maze was used to measure the ability of Ps. fuscus to detect and move towards odours, against different background water sources. Ps. fuscus were exposed to damage-released odours from juvenile P. amboinensis, or a control cue of seawater, against a background of seawater treated with either healthy or dead-degraded hard coral. Predators exhibited an increased time allocation to the chambers of y-mazes injected with damage-released odours, with comparable levels of response in both healthy and dead-degraded coral treated waters. In control treatments, where damage-released odours were replaced with a control seawater cue, fish showed no increased preference for either chamber of the y-maze. Our results suggest that olfactory-mediated foraging behaviours may persist in Ps. fuscus within dead-degraded coral habitats. Ps. fuscus may consequently gain a sensory advantage over P. amboinensis, potentially altering the outcome of predator-prey interactions.

Dataset Information

Chemical alarm cues are conserved within the coral reef fish family Pomacentridae.

Publications

Chemical alarm cues are conserved within the coral reef fish family Pomacentridae.

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