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Data for: McCormick, Chivers, Ferrari, Blandford, Fakan & Allan. Microplastic consumption interacts with habitat degradation to affect behaviour and survival of juvenile fish
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This dataset accompanies a study on how coral reef fish respond to microplastics under predicted climate change conditions, including elevated CO2 and temperature. The data supports research on whether environmental stress makes marine organisms more vulnerable to plastic pollution.
Abstract [Related Publication]: Under the current threat of global climate change, coral reefs are predicted to become extensively degraded. In addition, the rapidly increasing production and disposal of plastic products worldwide lead to the rising accumulation of plastic pollution in coastal ecosystems. The present study explores how the dual threat of habitat degradation and microplastic exposure may act in isolation and in synergy to affect the behaviour and survival of coral reef fish in the field. Fish were caught prior to settlement and pulse fed polystyrene microplastic spheres six times over four days, then placed in the field on live or dead-degraded coral patches where their survival was monitored. Exposure to microplastics led fish to be bolder, more active and stray further from shelter compared to control fish. Fish on dead coral likewise were bolder, more active and less risk averse. Effect sizes indicated that plastic exposure had a greater effect on behaviour, leading to enhanced potential risk, than degraded habitat. However, there was an antagonistic interaction between microplastic exposure and coral health, which found fish on live coral that were exposed to microplastics also being more active and taking more risks. This interaction was also displayed in their survival in the field. All fish, apart from the ones that were not exposed to microplastics and lived on live coral, had very low survival. While microplastic exposure did not elevate mortality above that already found in dead-degraded habitats, it did represent a significant new stressor that lead to six-times higher mortality when living on live healthy habitats. Dataset consists of a spreadsheet containing 2 worksheets: Raw data and a Key which includes the full methodology.
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Supplementary material from "Microplastic exposure interacts with habitat degradation to affect behaviour and survival of juvenile fish in the field"
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This field study exposed juvenile coral reef fish to polystyrene microplastics and then released them onto either healthy or degraded coral reef patches. Fish exposed to microplastics on degraded reefs had significantly higher mortality and altered behavior compared to controls, demonstrating that microplastic exposure and habitat degradation can interact to amplify harm to reef fish in the wild.
Degradation & microplastics Dec2018 data to upload.xlsx
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This is a dataset accompanying a study that investigated how microplastic exposure interacts with coral reef habitat degradation to affect the behavior and survival of juvenile reef fish in the field. The data supports findings that microplastics and habitat loss together cause more harm to settling fish than either stressor alone.
Microplastic exposure interacts with habitat degradation to affect behaviour and survival of juvenile fish in the field
AI summary Read the abstract
Juvenile coral reef fish pulse-fed polystyrene microplastics and then released onto live or degraded coral patches became bolder, more active, and strayed farther from shelter — with microplastic exposure having a larger behavioral effect than habitat degradation — potentially increasing predation risk in the field.
Microplastics ingestion and heterotrophy in thermally stressed corals
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Researchers exposed two coral species to ambient and elevated temperatures and then fed them microplastics, Artemia nauplii, or both, finding that thermal stress significantly reduced feeding on prey but did not decrease microplastic ingestion. Notably, one species only ingested microplastics when live food was simultaneously present, suggesting incidental rather than selective uptake and highlighting species-level variability in microplastic risk under climate change.
Microplastic ingestion of juvenile Amphiprion ocellaris in relation to phenotype
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This study examined microplastic ingestion by juvenile clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) under controlled laboratory conditions, assessing how the fish responded to plastic particles relative to natural food. The work contributes to understanding the risk of microplastic uptake in coral reef fish species already threatened by environmental stressors.
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