Effects of climate change and anthropogenic pollutants on social behaviour in gregarious fish CBD seminar: Izzy Tiddy (University of Glasgow)

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Talk abstract: Social behaviour is a key adaptive trait for many fish species, however identifying generalisable trends in its vulnerability to anthropogenic stressors is challenging. In the first half of this talk, I will discuss how systematic metanalysis of existing literature revealed effects of hypoxia, chemical pollutants, light, and noise pollution on social behaviour in gregarious fishes, as well as identifying a number of knowledge gaps. Specifically, stressors such as artificial light at night remain understudied in the context of fish social behaviour, and effects of abiotic stressors on links between individual behavioural traits and group dynamics are not fully understood. The second half of this talk will focus on a series of experiments undertaken to address these knowledge gaps. Both hypoxia and high temperatures were found to modulate links between individual behavioural traits, roles of individuals in groups, and group dynamics in a model fish species, rummy-nose tetra Hemigrammus rhodostomus. Artificial light at night had no effect on sociability in a gregarious reef fish, threespot dascyllus Dascyllus trimaculatus but increased diurnal risk-taking behaviour. These findings highlight both the ecological significance of sublethal exposure to anthropogenic stressors, and the importance of social context in understanding the mechanisms of these effects within and among individuals.