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Recovery of Olfactory Mediated Behaviours of Fish from Metal Contaminated Lakes

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Abstract

Fish mediate many biological processes by olfaction, which can be impaired by contaminants (i.e. metals). While the olfactory recovery of fish from metal contaminated lakes if subsequently cultured in clean water has been shown at the neurophysiological level, the recovery potential of olfactory mediated behaviours remains unknown. To study behavioural recovery of fish from metal contaminated lakes, wild yellow perch (Perca flavescens) were collected from two metal-contaminated lakes (Ramsey and Hannah lakes) in the metal-mining district of Sudbury, ON, Canada and cultured in clean water from a reference lake (Geneva Lake) for another 24 h. Olfactory mediated behaviours of the test organisms were tested using avoidance responses to conspecific skin extract. While olfactory mediated behaviours of fish from Ramsey Lake (low contamination) recovered after 24 h in clean water, recovery could not be observed in fish from Hannah Lake (high contamination). These results demonstrate that the recovery of behavioural deficits of fish from metal contaminated lakes is depending on the habitats’ metal concentration.

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Acknowledgments

Authors would like to thank Dr. John Gunn and the personnel of the Cooperative Freshwater Ecology Unit, Sudbury, ON for their support. In addition, we thank Anne Willis for her help in conducting this experiment and Patrick Gauthier for reviewing this manuscript. Funding for this study was provided by a research grant from the Natural Science and Engineering Research of Canada (NSERC Collaborative Research and Development grant program) with complementary funding from Vale Canada Limited. GGP was supported by the Canada Research Chairs program during the field portion of this research, and is currently supported by a Campus Alberta Innovates Program (CAIP) Chair in Aquatic Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, ON, P7B 5E1, Canada

    Ali Azizishirazi

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Lethbridge, 4401 University Drive, Lethbridge, AB, T1K 3M4, Canada

    Greg G. Pyle

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  1. Ali Azizishirazi
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  2. Greg G. Pyle
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Correspondence to Greg G. Pyle.

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Azizishirazi, A., Pyle, G.G. Recovery of Olfactory Mediated Behaviours of Fish from Metal Contaminated Lakes. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 95, 1–5 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-015-1460-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-015-1460-5

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