Microplastic exposure increases predictability of predator avoidance strategies in hermit crabs
Microplastic exposure increases predictability of predator avoidance strategies in hermit crabs
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DOI：
10.1016/j.hazl.2020.100005
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发表时间：
2020-10
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
G. Nanninga;Catharine Horswill;S. M. Lane;A. Manica;M. Briffa
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
G. Nanninga;Catharine Horswill;S. M. Lane;A. Manica;M. Briffa
塑料垃圾对自然系统的污染已成为最紧迫的全球环境问题之一。微塑料（MP）特别令人担忧，因为它们的普遍存在和小尺寸使它们可被一系列水生生物摄取。因此，MP暴露研究正在迅速增加，但通常仅限于对治疗中毒性终点的人群水平反应进行分析。然而，潜在的污染物引起的行为模式的改变，可以体现在许多层次的变化：在人口水平上，个人之间和个人内。在这里，我们使用了重复的措施惊吓反应持续时间-风险规避机制-在欧洲寄居蟹，Pagurus bernhardus，测量行为反应MP暴露在多个层次的变化。我们发现，MP暴露导致了一个显着的减少惊吓持续时间在人口水平，以及减少个体内的变化。换句话说，随着MP浓度的增加，螃蟹的平均风险规避程度降低，它们的行为变得更可预测。总的来说，我们的研究结果表明，MP污染可能会增加寄居蟹捕食的敏感性。
The contamination of natural systems with plastic debris has become one of the most pressing global environmental issues. Microplastics (MPs) are of particular concern because their ubiquity and small size make them available for ingestion by a range of aquatic biota. MP exposure studies are hence proliferating rapidly but are typically limited to the analyses of population-level responses in toxicity endpoints across treatments. Potential contaminant-induced alterations in behavioural patterns, however, could manifest on numerous levels of variation: at the population-level, between individuals and within individuals. Here, we used repeated measures on startle response durations – a risk-avoidance mechanism – in European hermit crabs,Pagurus bernhardus, to measure behavioural responses to MP exposure across multiple levels of variation. We found that MP exposure led to a significant decrease of startle duration at the population-level as well as a reduction of intra-individual variation. In other words, crabs became less risk averse on average and their behaviour became more predictable with increasing MP concentrations. Collectively, our findings indicate that MP pollution might increase susceptibility to predation in hermit crabs.