Elevated CO2 affects the behavior of an ecologically and economically important coral reef fish

By P. Munday, M. Pratchett, D. Dixson, J. Donelson, Geoffrey G. K. Endo, A. Reynolds, R. Knuckey. 2013

120 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We tested the effect of near-future CO2 levels (≈490, 570, 700, and 960 μatm CO2) on the olfactory responses and activity levels of juvenile coral trout, Plectropomus leopardus, a piscivorous reef fish that is also one of the most important fisheries species on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Juvenile coral trout reared for 4 weeks at 570 μatm CO2 exhibited similar sensory responses and behaviors to juveniles reared at 490 μatm CO2 (control). In contrast, juveniles reared at 700 and 960 μatm CO2 exhibited dramatically altered sensory function and behaviors. At these higher CO2 concentrations, juveniles became attracted to the odor of potential predators, as has been observed in other reef fishes. They were more active, spent less time in shelter, ventured further from shelter, and were bolder than fish reared at 490 or 570 μatm CO2. These results demonstrate that behavioral impairment of coral trout is unlikely if pCO2 remains below 600 μatm; however, at higher levels, there are significant impacts on juvenile performance that are likely to affect survival and energy budgets, with consequences for predator–prey interactions and commercial fisheries.

Subfields: Ecology, Oceanography

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/5b260b507be4ae2f4f6fe1b645b0b4171cef30de

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Citations in the corpus

Early life history and fisheries oceanography: new questions in a changing world (2014, unknown): “…et al., 2009a, 2014; Dixson et al., 2010) and auditory preferences (Simpson et al., 2011), visual reactivity (Chung et al., 2014), behavioral lateralization (Domenici et al., 2012), activity levels (Munday et al., 2010, 2013, 2014; Pimentel et al., 2014), and learning (Ferrari et al., 2012).”
Two‐current choice flumes for testing avoidance and preference in aquatic animals (2017, background): “…as being either fully attracted or fully repelled to the cue based on where the fish spent >50% of its time over the entirety of the trial (e.g. Munday et al. 2010, 2013; Nilsson et al. 2012) is not recommended, as it removes important information, amplifies random effects, and could bias the…”
Impacts of Global Warming and Elevated CO2 on Sensory Behavior in Predator-Prey Interactions: A Review and Synthesis (2019, background): “Elevated CO2 can increase activity levels in juvenile coral trout (Plectropomus leopardus), and produces bolder behavior and less time spent in shelter (Munday et al., 2013).”
Modelling climate change impacts on marine fish populations: process-based integration of ocean warming, acidification and other environmental drivers (2016, background): “Behavioural traits mediate a wide range of organism-organism and organism-775 habitat interactions in fish (Munday et al., 2013b, Nagelkerken and Munday, 2015), and 776 thus may become valuable in modelling phenotypic variation and adaptive potential in the 777 context of communities and ecosystems…”
Marine animal behaviour in a high CO2 ocean (2015, background): “…Pomacentrus moluccensis Settling Activity 945 μatm None Aggressiveness 945 μatm Positive P. amboiensis Settling Activity 945 μatm Positive Aggressiveness 945 μatm Negative Munday et al. (2013) Plectopomus leopardus Juvenile Activity 570 μatm None 700 μatm Negative 960 μatm Negative Allan et al.…”