Impact of ocean warming on a coral reef fish learning and memory [PeerJ]

Tropical ectotherms are highly sensitive to environmental warming, especially coral reef fishes, which are negatively impacted by an increase of a few degrees in ocean temperature. However, much of our understanding on the thermal sensitivity of reef fish is focused on a few traits (e.g., metabolism, reproduction) and we currently lack knowledge on warming effects on cognition, which may endanger decision-making and survival. Here, we investigated the effects of warming on learning and memory in a damselfish species, Acanthochromis polyacanthus. Fish were held at 28–28.5 °C (control group), 30–30.5 °C (moderate warming group) or 31.5–32 °C (high warming group) for 2 weeks, and then trained to associate a blue tag (cue) to the presence of a conspecific (reward). Following 20 training trials (5 days), fish were tested for associative learning (on the following day) and memory storage (after a 5-days interval). The control group A. polyacanthus showed learning of the task and memory retention after five days, but increasing water temperature impaired learning and memory. A thorough understanding of the effects of heat stress, cognition, and fitness is urgently required because cognition may be a key factor determining animals’ performance in the predicted scenario of climate changes. Knowing how different species respond to warming can lead to better predictions of future community dynamics, and because it is species specific, it could pinpoint vulnerable/resilience species.

Bigfin reef squid demonstrate capacity for conditional

Historical baselines of coral cover on tropical reefs as estimated

Warming and temperature variability determine the performance of

High survival following bleaching underscores the resilience of a

Water column contributions to coral reef productivity: overcoming

Water column contributions to coral reef productivity: overcoming

Impact of ocean warming on a coral reef fish learning and memory

How does climate change affect coral reefs?

Global Change Biology, Environmental Change Journal

Diversity and distribution of Symbiodiniaceae detected on coral

Remote Sensing, Free Full-Text