Effects of elevated CO(2) on fish behaviour undiminished by transgenerational acclimation

• Published in: Nature Climate Change
• Main Authors: Welch, Megan J., Welsh, Justin Q., Watson, Sue-Ann, McCormick, Mark I., Munday, Philip
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Nature Publishing Group 2014
• Subjects: Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/37083/1/37083%20Welch%20et%20al%202014.pdf

Behaviour and sensory performance of marine fishes are impaired at CO(2) levels projected to occur in the ocean in the next 50–100 years, and there is limited potential for within-generation acclimation to elevated CO(2). However, whether fish behaviour can acclimate or adapt to elevated CO(2) over multiple generations remains unanswered. We tested for transgenerational acclimation of reef fish olfactory preferences and behavioural lateralization at moderate (656 μatm) and high (912 μatm) end-of-century CO(2) projections. Juvenile spiny damselfish, Acanthochromis polyacanthus, from control parents (446 μatm) exhibited an innate avoidance to chemical alarm cue (CAC) when reared in control conditions. In contrast, juveniles lost their innate avoidance of CAC and even became strongly attracted to CAC when reared at elevated CO(2) levels. Juveniles from parents maintained at mid-CO(2) and high-CO(2) levels also lost their innate avoidance of CAC when reared in elevated CO(2), demonstrating no capacity for transgenerational acclimation of olfactory responses. Behavioural lateralization was also disrupted for juveniles reared under elevated CO(2), regardless of parental conditioning. Our results show minimal potential for transgenerational acclimation in this fish, suggesting that genetic adaptation will be necessary to overcome the effects of ocean acidification on behaviour.