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Papers
20 resultsShowing papers similar to Chemical cues for intraspecific chemical communication and interspecific interactions in aquatic environments: applications for fisheries and aquaculture
ClearInfochemicals Recognized by Crustaceans
This review examines the chemical communication systems of crustaceans, detailing how infochemicals mediate foraging, predator detection, mating, and social hierarchy, and discusses how anthropogenic pollution -- including heavy metals and microplastics -- threatens chemosensory function and thus crustacean ecological fitness.
Bioassay complexities—exploring challenges in aquatic chemosensory research
This paper examines the challenges of studying how aquatic organisms detect and respond to chemical signals in their environment. Researchers found that many experimental assumptions, such as whether animals are ready to respond or have already been exposed to test cues, introduce significant variability into study results. The study suggests that the field needs better standardized methods to produce reliable and comparable findings across different laboratories.
Role of Environmental Pollution in Altering Reproductive Cycles in Freshwater Fishes
Not relevant to microplastics — this review examines how industrial chemicals, pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, and pesticides in freshwater ecosystems disrupt reproductive cycles in fish, covering hormonal imbalances and population effects from endocrine-disrupting chemicals broadly.
Plastic waste interferes with chemical communication in aquatic ecosystems
Researchers found that plastic waste made of common polymers like HDPE and PET can absorb chemical signals that water fleas (Daphnia) use to detect predators, disrupting their ability to form protective physical defenses. This indirect effect of microplastics — interfering with chemical communication rather than causing direct toxicity — could have far-reaching consequences for aquatic food webs.
Interference of Chemical Communication in Plankton: Impact of Nanoplastics
This review explains how nanoplastics — plastic fragments smaller than 1,000 nanometers — physically interfere with the chemical signals that aquatic plankton use to find mates, detect predators, and compete for food, effectively silencing the invisible communication networks that underpin freshwater food webs. Because plankton form the base of aquatic ecosystems, disrupting these chemical cues can cascade upward through food chains, reducing biodiversity and destabilizing ecosystems even at nanoplastic concentrations too low to cause obvious physical harm.
Exposure to microplastics impairs fish's major behaviors. A novel threat to aquatic ecosystem
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.
The effects of environmental changes on the endocrine regulation of feeding in fishes
This review examines how environmental changes, including pollution and temperature shifts, disrupt the hormonal systems that control feeding and digestion in fish. Pollutants like microplastics and heavy metals can interfere with appetite-regulating hormones, leading to changes in feeding behavior and energy balance. These effects on fish health are relevant to humans because disrupted fish growth and development can reduce the nutritional quality and safety of fish as a food source.
Chemical Ecology and Management of Dengue Vectors
This review examines the chemical ecology of Aedes mosquitoes that transmit dengue virus, focusing on the scent-based cues that drive their host-seeking, egg-laying, and mating behaviors. Researchers discuss how understanding these chemical signals can lead to more effective mosquito control strategies. While not directly related to microplastics, the study contributes to managing one of the most widespread mosquito-borne diseases globally.
The effect of environmental stressors on growth in fish and its endocrine control
This review examines how environmental stressors, including pollution and climate change, affect fish growth through hormonal disruption. Pollutants like microplastics and heavy metals can interfere with the growth hormone system, leading to stunted development and reproductive problems in fish. These effects on fish health are relevant to humans because they can reduce the quality and safety of fish as a food source.
Consequences of Anthropogenic Changes in the Sensory Landscape of Marine Animals
This review examines how anthropogenic activities such as noise, light, chemical, and climate change are altering sensory cues in marine environments, impairing the ability of marine animals to navigate, find food, avoid predators, and reproduce.
Experimental Approaches for Characterizing the Endocrine-Disrupting Effects of Environmental Chemicals in Fish
This review examines experimental approaches used to characterize the endocrine-disrupting effects of environmental chemicals, including microplastics, in fish. Researchers summarize methods spanning molecular, cellular, and whole-organism levels, including gene expression analysis, hormone measurements, and reproductive assays. The study provides a framework for evaluating how pollutants interfere with hormonal regulation in aquatic vertebrates and highlights the value of fish as sentinel species.
The Effects of Combined Stress from pH and Microplastic-Derived Odours on the European Green Crab Carcinus maenas’s Olfactory Behaviour
Researchers tested how microplastic-derived odors and reduced seawater pH (simulating ocean acidification) combined to affect the olfactory behavior of European green crabs (Carcinus maenas). Using slow-release gel cues at pH values from 8.2 down to projected 2100 levels, they found that both stressors disrupted crab responses to sex pheromone and food cues, with combined exposure causing the most pronounced behavioral disruption.
Natural infochemical DMSP stimulates the transfer of microplastics from freshwater zooplankton to fish: An olfactory trap
A natural algae-derived compound (DMSP) acts as an olfactory cue that causes fish to consume microplastic-laden zooplankton, inadvertently increasing plastic particle transfer up freshwater food chains.
Phthalate-induced effects in algae and fishes: insights into environmental toxicology
This review of existing research found that phthalates—chemicals commonly found in plastics and personal care products—are harming fish and algae in waterways by disrupting their hormones, reproduction, and basic life processes. Since these chemicals build up in the food chain and we're exposed to them through contaminated water and seafood, this pollution could pose risks to human health too. The findings highlight the need for better regulations to limit phthalate pollution in our environment.
Hampered Survival Strategies and Altered Fish Behaviour Under the Threat of Fluoxetine, Microplastics, Mercury Toxicity, Thermal Discharge, and Pesticides
This review examines how multiple aquatic stressors — mercury pollution, microplastics, fluoxetine, pesticides, and thermal discharge — impair fish behavior and survival, covering disrupted predator avoidance, foraging, reproduction, and neurological function across species.
Water Quality Impact on Fish Behavior: A Review From an Aquaculture Perspective
This review examines how various water quality factors, including microplastic pollution, affect fish behavior in aquaculture settings. Microplastics and other pollutants can alter fish swimming patterns, feeding behavior, stress responses, and social interactions. Understanding these behavioral changes is important for both fish welfare and food production, since stressed or contaminated fish may be lower quality for human consumption.
Can Fish Escape the Evolutionary Trap Induced by Microplastics?
Researchers tested three fish species—bass, carp, and goldfish—to quantify how their sensory systems and social context influence microplastic ingestion. Bass responded to visual food cues, carp to olfactory ones, and goldfish relied on oral processing; group size and fasting time altered MP ingestion, showing that species-specific foraging strategies create an evolutionary trap around microplastics.
Factors influencing the feeding responses of reef-building corals to microplastics
Scientists found that coral reefs—which protect coastlines and support fish we eat—are eating tiny plastic particles based mainly on the chemical smell of different plastic types. The corals can somewhat tell the difference between plastic and real food, but they still consume harmful plastic pieces that get stuck in their bodies. This matters because healthier coral reefs mean better ocean ecosystems that provide food and coastal protection for millions of people.
Natural infochemical DMSP stimulates the transfer of microplastics from freshwater zooplankton to fish: An olfactory trap
Researchers found that the natural algal chemical DMSP stimulates zooplankton to ingest more microplastics and then transfer them to fish through predation — acting as an olfactory trap. This unexpected mechanism accelerates the trophic transfer of microplastics through freshwater food chains, potentially increasing microplastic accumulation in fish consumed by humans.
Natural infochemical DMSP stimulates the transfer of microplastics from freshwater zooplankton to fish: An olfactory trap
A natural algae-derived chemical compound called DMSP acts as an olfactory attractant that causes fish to preferentially consume zooplankton loaded with microplastics, inadvertently accelerating the transfer of plastic particles up the freshwater food chain.