TY - JOUR
T1 - Wild zebrafish sentinels
T2 - Biological monitoring of site differences using behavior and morphology
AU - Kelly, Jeffrey R.
AU - Shelton, Sierra G.
AU - Daniel, Danita K.
AU - Bhat, Anuradha
AU - Mondal, Rubina
AU - Nipple, Fahren
AU - Amro, Halima
AU - Bower, Myra E.
AU - Isaac, Gabriel
AU - McHaney, Gillian
AU - Martins, Emilia P.
AU - Shelton, Delia S.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This research was funded by the National Science Foundation NSF Postdoc Fellowship 1611616 and NIH NIEHS K99 1ES030398 01A1 (to D.S.S.) and through Grant IOS-1257562 (to E.P.M.).
Funding Information:
Acknowledgments: We thank Aditya Ghoshal, Tamal Roy, Bappi, and several local fishermen for their hospitality and field assistance. The authors also thank Piyumika Suriyampola, Monserrat Suárez-Rodríguez, Lani C. O’Neill, Jens Krause, David Noakes, Robyn Tanguay and members of the Martins and Tanguay laboratories for helpful discussions on planning the field expedition and for comments on early versions of this article. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation NSF Postdoc Fellowship 1611616 and NIH NIEHS K99 1ES030398 01A1 (to D.S.S.) and through Grant IOS-1257562 (to E.P.M.).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/7
Y1 - 2021/7
N2 - Environmental change poses a devastating risk to human and environmental health. Rapid assessment of water conditions is necessary for monitoring, evaluating, and addressing this global health danger. Sentinels or biological monitors can be deployed in the field using minimal resources to detect water quality changes in real time, quickly and cheaply. Zebrafish (Danio rerio) are ideal sentinels for detecting environmental changes due to their biomedical tool kit, widespread geographic distribution, and well-characterized phenotypic responses to environmental disturbances. Here, we demonstrate the utility of zebrafish sentinels by characterizing phenotypic differences in wild zebrafish between two field sites in India. Site 1 was a rural environment with flowing water, low-hypoxic conditions, minimal human-made debris, and high iron and lead concentrations. Site 2 was an urban environment with still water, hypoxic conditions, plastic pollution, and high arsenic, iron, and chromium concentrations. We found that zebrafish from Site 2 were smaller, more cohesive, and less active than Site 1 fish. We also found sexually dimorphic body shapes within the Site 2, but not the Site 1, population. Advancing zebrafish sentinel research and development will enable rapid detection, evaluation, and response to emerging global health threats.
AB - Environmental change poses a devastating risk to human and environmental health. Rapid assessment of water conditions is necessary for monitoring, evaluating, and addressing this global health danger. Sentinels or biological monitors can be deployed in the field using minimal resources to detect water quality changes in real time, quickly and cheaply. Zebrafish (Danio rerio) are ideal sentinels for detecting environmental changes due to their biomedical tool kit, widespread geographic distribution, and well-characterized phenotypic responses to environmental disturbances. Here, we demonstrate the utility of zebrafish sentinels by characterizing phenotypic differences in wild zebrafish between two field sites in India. Site 1 was a rural environment with flowing water, low-hypoxic conditions, minimal human-made debris, and high iron and lead concentrations. Site 2 was an urban environment with still water, hypoxic conditions, plastic pollution, and high arsenic, iron, and chromium concentrations. We found that zebrafish from Site 2 were smaller, more cohesive, and less active than Site 1 fish. We also found sexually dimorphic body shapes within the Site 2, but not the Site 1, population. Advancing zebrafish sentinel research and development will enable rapid detection, evaluation, and response to emerging global health threats.
KW - Behavior
KW - Danio rerio
KW - Environmental change
KW - India
KW - Morphology
KW - Sentinel
KW - Wild zebrafish
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85111050340&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85111050340&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/toxics9070165
DO - 10.3390/toxics9070165
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85111050340
SN - 2305-6304
VL - 9
JO - Toxics
JF - Toxics
IS - 7
M1 - 165
ER -