Ocean acidification alters the acute stress response of a marine fish

• Published in: Science of The Total Environment
• Main Authors: Servili, Arianna, Lévêque, Etienne, Mouchel, Olivier, Devergne, Jimmy, Lebigre, Christophe, Roussel, Sabine, Mazurais, David, Zambonino-Infante, Jose-Luis
• Other Authors: Laboratoire des Sciences de l'Environnement Marin (LEMAR) (LEMAR), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer (IUEM), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER), Dynamique et durabilité des écosystèmes : de la source à l’océan (DECOD), Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Isblue, ANR-17-EURE-0015,ISBlue,Interdisciplinary Graduate School for the Blue planet(2017)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2023
• Subjects: Climate change;Allostatic load;Phenotypic plasticity;European sea bass;Corticotropic axis;Neuroendocrine control and behavior; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04028263; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159804

International audience The absorption of anthropogenic carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by oceans generates rapid changes in seawater carbonate system and pH, a process termed ocean acidification. Exposure to acidified water can impact the allostatic load of marine organism as the acclimation to suboptimal environments requires physiological adaptive responses that are energetically costly. As a consequence, fish facing ocean acidification may experience alterations of their stress re-sponse and a compromised ability to cope with additional stress, which may impact individuals' life traits and ulti-mately their fitness. In this context, we carried out an integrative study investigating the impact of ocean acidification on the physiological and behavioral stress responses to an acute stress in juvenile European sea bass. Fish were long term (11 months) exposed to present day pH/CO2 condition or acidified water as predicted by IPCC "business as usual" (RCP8.5) scenario for 2100 and subjected to netting stress (fish transfer and confinement test). Fish acclimated to acidified condition showed slower post stress return to plasma basal concentrations of cortisol and glucose. We found no clear indication of regulation in the central and interrenal tissues of the expression levels of gluco-and mineralocorticoid receptors and corticoid releasing factor. At 120 min post stress, sea bass acclimated to acidified water had divergent neurotransmitters concentrations pattern in the hypothalamus (higher serotonin levels and lower GABA and dopamine levels) and a reduction in motor activity. Our experimental data indicate that ocean acidification alters the physiological response to acute stress in European sea bass via the neuroendocrine reg-ulation of the corticotropic axis, a response associated to an alteration of the motor behavioral profile. Overall, this study suggests that behavioral and physiological adaptive response to climate changes related constraints may impact fish resilience to further stressful events.