McCallum et al. uncover unexpected reproductive behaviors in wild male fish, including heightened aggression and competition, and declines in egg numbers and secondary sexual characteristics during wh...

British Columbia researchers found more than 200 contaminants in water and chinook salmon tissue samples collected from five sites in the Lower Fraser River estuary including everything from cocaine a...

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Podcast Episode · Curiosity Weekly · 17 June · 26min

A recent study caught our eye: salmon on cocaine. Or really, researchers giving salmon cocaine…for science. See, scientists know human drugs pollute aquatic environments – past studies have shown even...

YouTube video by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

It turns out that salmon exposed to cocaine through water pollution do a lot of swimming—which may not be a good thing

Fish swam further and dispersed more widely after exposure to environmental levels of drug and main metabolite Traces of cocaine that pollute rivers and lakes may accumulate in the brains of salmon and disrupt their behaviour, according to researchers who warn of unknown consequences for fish populations. Juvenile Atlantic salmon that were artificially exposed to the drug and its main breakdown product swam further and dispersed more widely across a lake, suggesting the substances can affect where the fish go, what they eat and how vulnerable they are to predators. Continue reading...

Mitochondrial genes play an essential role in energy metabolism. Variation in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence often exists within species, and this variation can have consequences for energy production and organismal life history. Yet, despite potential links between energy metabolism and the expression of animal behaviour, mtDNA variation has been largely neglected to date in studies investigating intraspecific behavioural diversity. We outline how mtDNA variation and interactions between mitochondrial and nuclear genotypes may contribute to the expression of individual-to-individual behavioural differences within populations, and why such effects may lead to sex differences in behaviour. We contend that integration of the mitochondrial genome into behavioural ecology research may be key to fully understanding the evolutionary genetics of animal behaviour.

Cognition underpins how animals perceive, navigate, and respond to their environment, yet these fundamental processes are increasingly threatened by environmental pollutants. Neuroactive pharmaceutica...

A substantial body of evidence exists demonstrating that exposure to environmental contaminants can alter animal behavior. Moreover, methodological and technological advancements, as well as increasin...

Abstract. Behavioural diversity is an important but understudied facet of biodiversity that enables wildlife populations to cope with rapidly changing envi

Pharmaceutical pollution alters river-to-sea migration success in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)

Trace elements, particularly heavy metals like mercury, pose significant risks to marine ecosystems due to their toxic and bioaccumulative properties. Concentrations in some marine species show concer...

Loggers have become a central part of research on seabirds and other groups of animals over the past 20 years. In seabird research, loggers provide very useful documentation of diving behaviour…