Responses of wild fishes to alarm chemicals in pristine and metal-contaminated lakes
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Date
2004
Authors
McPherson, Taryn D.
Mirza, Reehan S.
Pyle, Gregory
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
National Research Council of Canada
Abstract
Responses of wild fish populations to alarm chemicals were examined in clean and metal-contaminated lakes
in northern Ontario. Approximately 20 groups of three minnow traps were placed randomly in the littoral zone of each
study lake. Within each minnow trap group, one trap was treated with a chemical alarm stimulus (Iowa darter
(Etheostoma exile (Girard, 1859)) skin extract, prey-guild species, alarm cue present), one with swordtail (Xiphophorus
helleri Heckel, 1848) skin extract (phylogenetically distant and allopatric from darters, alarm cue present but not recognized
by darters), and one with distilled water (neutral control). Data included the identification and enumeration of
fish captured in each trap after a 10-h set. Darters avoided areas labelled with the alarm stimulus relative to controls
only in the clean lake; in contaminated lakes, darters did not avoid areas labelled with the alarm stimulus relative to
controls. No effects of contamination on chemosensory function were observed for heterospecific non-darter prey-guild
or predator-guild species. These findings suggest that chemical alarm systems do exist in nature, and that these systems
appear to be affected by the presence of metals. Such pollution-related effects could lead to increased susceptibility of some fish species to predation and to population declines.
Description
Sherpa Romeo green journal
Keywords
Fishes -- Effect of chemicals on -- Ontario , Chemical alarm stimulus , Metal-contaminated lakes , Iowa darters
Citation
McPherson, T., R. Mirza, and G. Pyle. 2004. Responses of wild fishes to alarm chemicals in pristine and metal-contaminated lakes. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 82: 694-700.