Combined effects of global warming and chlorpyrifos exposure on the annual fish Nothobranchius furzeri.

Global warming and environmental pollution threaten aquatic ecosystems. While interactive effects between both stressors can have more than additive consequences, these remain poorly studied for most taxa. Especially chronic exposure trials with vertebrates are scarce due to the high time- and monetary costs of such studies.

Population-, sex- and individual level divergence in life-history and activity patterns in an annual killifish.

Variation in life-history strategies along a slow-fast continuum is largely governed by life-history trade-offs. The pace-of-life syndrome hypothesis (POLS) expands on this idea and suggests coevolution of these traits with personality and physiology at different levels of biological organization. However, it remains unclear to what extent covariation at different levels aligns and if also behavioral patterns such as diurnal activity changes should be incorporated.

Interactive effects of 3,4-DCA and temperature on the annual killifish Nothobranchius furzeri.

Although aquatic organisms are increasingly exposed to pollutants and abnormally high temperatures as a consequence of climate change, interactive effects between those stressors remain poorly assessed. Especially in ectotherms, such as fish, increases in ambient temperature are expected to affect fitness-related traits and physiology. We used the turquoise killifish Nothobranchius furzeri to study the effects of a range of 3,4-dichloroaniline concentrations (0, 50, 100 μg/L) in combination with two temperature conditions (control and control +4 °C) during four months of exposure.

Improving the reliability and ecological validity of pharmaceutical risk assessment: Turquoise killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri) as a model in behavioral ecotoxicology.

Pharmaceuticals are essential for human well-being, but their increasing and continuous use pollutes the environment. Although behavioral ecotoxicology is increasingly advocated to assess the effects of pharmaceutical pollution on wildlife and ecosystems, a consensus on the actual environmental risks is lacking for most compounds. The main limitation is the lack of standardized reproducible tests that are based on sensitive behavioral endpoints and that accommodate a high ecological relevance.

Individual behavioral variation reflects personality divergence in the upcoming model organism .

In the animal kingdom, behavioral variation among individuals has often been reported. However, stable among-individual differences along a behavioral continuum-reflective of personality variation-have only recently become a key target of research. While a vast body of descriptive literature exists on animal personality, hypothesis-driven quantitative studies are largely deficient.

Squeezing out the last egg-annual fish increase reproductive efforts in response to a predation threat.

Both constitutive and inducible antipredator strategies are ubiquitous in nature and serve to maximize fitness under a predation threat. Inducible strategies may be favored over constitutive defenses depending on their relative cost and benefit and temporal variability in predator presence. In African temporary ponds, annual killifish of the genus are variably exposed to predators, depending on whether larger fish invade their habitat from nearby rivers during floods.

Combined effects of cadmium exposure and temperature on the annual killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri).

Freshwater organisms are increasingly exposed to combinations of stressors. However, because it is time-consuming and costly, research on the interaction of stressors, such as compound toxicity and global warming on vertebrates, is scarce. Studies on multigenerational effects of these combined stressors are almost nonexistent.

Protocol for Acute and Chronic Ecotoxicity Testing of the Turquoise Killifish Nothobranchius furzeri.

The killifish Nothobranchius furzeri is an emerging model organism in the field of ecotoxicology and its applicability in acute and chronic ecotoxicity testing has been demonstrated. Overall, the sensitivity of the species to toxic compounds is in the range with, or higher than, that of other model species. This work describes protocols for acute, chronic, and multigenerational bioassays of single and combined stressor effects on N.

Acute sensitivity of the killifish Nothobranchius furzeri to a combination of temperature and reference toxicants (cadmium, chlorpyrifos and 3,4-dichloroaniline).

Aquatic organisms of inland waters are often subjected to a combination of stressors. Yet, few experiments assess mixed stress effects beyond a select group of standard model organisms. We studied the joint toxicity of reference toxicants and increased temperature on the turquoise killifish, Nothobranchius furzeri, a promising model for ecotoxicological research due to the species' short life cycle and the production of drought-resistant eggs.

Acute and chronic sensitivity to copper of a promising ecotoxicological model species, the annual killifish Nothobranchius furzeri.

Nothobranchius furzeri is a promising model for ecotoxicological research due to the species' short life cycle and the production of drought-resistant eggs. Although the species is an emerging vertebrate fish model for several fundamental as well as applied research domains, its potential for ecotoxicological research has not yet been tested. The aim of this study was to characterise the acute and chronic sensitivity of this species to copper as compared to other model organisms.

Contrasting parasite communities among allopatric colour morphs of the Lake Tanganyika cichlid Tropheus.

Background: Adaptation to different ecological environments is thought to drive ecological speciation. This phenomenon culminates in the radiations of cichlid fishes in the African Great Lakes. Multiple characteristic traits of cichlids, targeted by natural or sexual selection, are considered among the driving factors of these radiations.