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Anthropogenic forcing of fish boldness and its impacts on ecosystem structure
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This modeling study found that anthropogenic stressors that alter fish boldness — such as chemicals and microplastics — do not cause population collapse on their own, but can subtly shift ecosystem structure over time. The findings suggest indirect behavioral effects of pollution may have significant long-term ecological consequences.
Abstract Modified fish behaviors in response to anthropogenic stressors, such as chemicals, microplastics, acoustic emissions and fisheries, are a debated driver of change in freshwater ecosystems and oceans. Our ability to judge the severity of observed behavioral responses is hampered by limited knowledge regarding how subtle behavior modifications in prey fish affect ecosystems. Here we show that anthropogenic stressors affecting fish boldness are not expected to cause population collapse, but rather elusive effects on fish length, population biomass, reproduction and ecosystem state shifts. We use a physiologically structured population model (three trophic levels), well fed with empirical data, to simulate how previously suggested alterations of fish boldness traits due to anthropogenic stressors affect ecosystem structure. Our results suggest that these stressors may cause ecosystem structure effects, such as skewed size distributions, reduced fish biomass and reduced reproduction success, by altering the foraging behavior of fish. However, the specific structure effects depend on where the boldness–shyness continuum change occurs and on the species‐specific life stages. The model also highlights somewhat counterintuitive effects leading to possible extinction of predators when the foraging behavior of the prey is hampered. We conclude that anthropogenic forcing of fish behavior may be a hidden mechanism behind ecosystem structure changes in both freshwater and marine ecosystems.
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Fish personality affects their exposure to microplastics
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Researchers found that fish personality traits, specifically boldness, significantly affect microplastic exposure in zebrafish, with bolder individuals ingesting more microplastics than shyer ones, suggesting behavioral differences influence contamination risk in wild fish populations.
Microplastics influence size-selected zebrafish behaviour
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Scientists exposed fish to microplastics (tiny plastic particles) and found that the contamination changed how the fish behaved - making them less bold and exploratory, but causing them to eat more often. This matters because microplastics are everywhere in our environment, including in seafood we eat, and this study shows these particles can alter animal behavior in ways that might affect entire food chains. The findings help us understand how plastic pollution could be disrupting aquatic ecosystems that humans depend on for food.
Exposure to microplastics impairs fish's major behaviors. A novel threat to aquatic ecosystem
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This review synthesises evidence on how microplastic exposure alters key behaviours in fish including feeding, reproduction, predator avoidance, and social interaction. It identifies neurological disruption, chemical co-toxicity, and gut effects as primary mechanisms, and highlights exposure to realistic environmental concentrations as an ongoing knowledge gap.
Social dominance influences individual susceptibility to an evolutionary trap in mosquitofish
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Social dominance hierarchy in mosquitofish groups influenced individual susceptibility to plastic ingestion as an evolutionary trap, with subordinate fish in larger groups showing altered plastic consumption behavior—demonstrating that social context mediates how animals fall into evolutionary traps posed by plastic pollution.
Microplastics and behavioral changes in fish: an integrative review
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This integrative review synthesizes the scientific literature on how microplastic exposure affects fish behavior, covering feeding, reproduction, predator avoidance, and social interactions. Exposure to microplastics consistently disrupted behavioral endpoints across fish species, with effects linked to oxidative stress, neurotoxicity, and endocrine disruption.
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