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Behavioral, physiological, and morphological outcomes under dynamic oxygen environments in zebrafish
Author(s) -
Marks Chris,
Moore Francisco B.G.,
Kaut Kevin P.,
Bagatto Brian
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.26.1_supplement.709.5
Subject(s) - zebrafish , biology , offspring , stimulus (psychology) , hypoxia (environmental) , phenotypic plasticity , oxygen , physiology , genotype , zoology , ecology , psychology , genetics , chemistry , gene , pregnancy , organic chemistry , psychotherapist
We investigated the relative contributions of genotype, early oxygen, and later oxygen environments on zebrafish behavior, physiology, and morphology. Four male and four female zebrafish were crossed in all possible combinations resulting in 389 offspring. These offspring were divided among four treatments: normoxia for 90 days, hypoxia for 90 days, normoxia for 30 days followed by hypoxia for 60 days, and hypoxia for 30 days followed by normoxia for 60 days. The effects of early oxygen environment, later oxygen environment, and genotype were then assessed with respect to zebrafish behavior, morphology, and physiology. Fish were tested in an arena where they could shoal with conspecifics before, during, and after the introduction of a novel stimulus. Blood glucose and size were also measured. Early oxygen environment influenced fish size, time spent swimming, and reactivity to a novel stimulus. While there was minimal genetic variation for the physiological, morphological, and behavioral outcomes, environmentally induced plasticity was predominate. Our results demonstrate the existence of critical windows of development for determining behavioral, physiological, and morphological outcomes. We also demonstrate the flexibility of extended quantitative genetic designs in addressing proximate sources of variation in complex environments.