PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Wake up and smell the reef: Fish larvae sniff their way back home

New study uses o-DISC to show that larvae of cardinalfish, damselfish use olfactory cues as triggers

2013-08-29
(Press-News.org) VIDEO: A study led by University of Miami scientist Claire Paris, which appears in the Aug. 28 edition of PLOS ONE, was designed to test the response of larvae in a...
Click here for more information.

MIAMI – August 28, 2013 --How tiny fish larvae travel away from the reef, then know how to navigate their way back home is a scientific mystery.

A new study led by Dr. Claire Paris, Professor at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science conducted at One Tree Island in the Great Barrier Reef is helping to shed some light on the topic. Working with colleagues from UM, Boston University, Laboratoire Oceanographique de Villefranche, James Cook University and Oldenburg University, the team has established that reef fish larvae can smell the presence of coral reefs from as far as several kilometers offshore, and use this odor to find home.

Members of the research team had established earlier that reef fish larvae could discriminate between the odors of different nearby reefs while preferring the odor of the reef where they were settling (Gerlach et al. Proceedings from the National Academy of Science, 2007). However, these experiments were done under controlled conditions in a shore-based laboratory.

"In this collaborative study we expanded our work to demonstrate that the odor responses can also be detected under the field conditions," said Dr. Jelle Atema, Boston University Professor of Biology. "This establishes for the first time that reef fish larvae discriminate odor in situ."

The current study, which appears in the August 28 edition of PLOS ONE, was designed to test the response of larvae in a natural open ocean setting using an outflow plume from One Tree Island. Using light traps, the team collected settlement-stage larvae from cardinalfish [Apogonidae] and damselfish [Pomacentridae].

In deployments to the north and south of One Tree Island, single larvae were observed in the central chamber of an o-DISC (ocean Drifting In Situ Chamber,) a unique device created in Paris' laboratory that is composed of circular behavioral arena transparent to light, sound and small scale turbulence. The light-weight piece of equipment was set adrift in the water column and the swimming activity and bearing of the larva was recorded using an underwater motion sensing and imaging system. The o-DISC tracked larval movement and orientation using odor cues from the environment.

Species from the two reef-fish families reacted very differently to the olfactory stimulus. Cardinalfish tended to speed up their movement in response to odors in the plume, but their orientation toward the reef was not apparent. They zigzag within the o-DISC chamber, which led the researchers to believe they were using infotaxis, or sporadic odor cues, in their attempt to orient. In contrast, damselfish slowed their swim speeds, and there was orientation along the shoreline and toward the west. They seemed to be moving with a compass, triggered by the odor stimulus.

"Ocean currents do not appear to influence the orientation of fish larvae," said Paris. "They do not provide a frame of reference since larvae are transported within. Instead, we find that fish larvae navigate by detecting turbulent odor signals transported kilometers away from the reef. Subsequently they switch to a directional cue, perhaps magnetic or acoustic, which allows them to find the reef."

Other fish, including mature sharks and freshwater juvenile salmon navigate using olfactory signals, but this is the first study to report that fish larvae use similar odor cues.

"The implications of this study are tremendous, because we have to take into account the impact that human activities might have on the smells contained within the ocean. If these larvae cannot get their 'wake up' cues to orient back toward the reef they may stay out at sea and become easy prey before finding home," said Paris.



INFORMATION:

The results of the study are reported in the open access journal PLOS ONE. Development of the o-DISC was funded through the National Science Foundation OCE-0512167 & OTIC-1155698.

The University of Miami's mission is to educate and nurture students, to create knowledge, and to provide service to our community and beyond. Committed to excellence and proud of the diversity of our University family, we strive to develop future leaders of our nation and the world. Founded in the 1940's, the Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science has grown into one of the world's premier marine and atmospheric research institutions. Offering dynamic interdisciplinary academics, the Rosenstiel School is dedicated to helping communities to better understand the planet, participating in the establishment of environmental policies, and aiding in the improvement of society and quality of life. For more information, please visit http://www.rsmas.miami.edu.

Paper: "Reef Odor: A wake up call for navigation in reef fish larvae"by C. B. Paris, J. Atema, J.O. Irisson, M. J. Kingsford, G. Gerlach, and C. M. Guigand. PLOS ONE (August 28, 2013).



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Wildfires projected to worsen with climate change

2013-08-29
Cambridge, Mass. – August 28, 2013 – Research by environmental scientists at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) brings bad news to the western United States, where firefighters are currently battling dozens of fires in at least 11 states. The Harvard team's study suggests wildfire seasons by 2050 will be about three weeks longer, up to twice as smoky, and will burn a wider area in the western states. The findings are based on a set of internationally recognized climate scenarios, decades of historical meteorological data, and records of past ...

LSU research responsible for naming 15 new species of Amazonian birds

2013-08-29
An international team of researchers coordinated by ornithologist Bret Whitney of the LSU Museum of Natural Science, or LSUMNS, recently published 15 species of birds previously unknown to science. The formal description of these birds has been printed in a special volume of the "Handbook of the Birds of the World" series. Not since 1871 have so many new species of birds been introduced under a single cover, and all 15 discoveries involve a current or former LSU researcher or student. "Birds are, far and away, the best-known group of vertebrates, so describing a large ...

Milky Way gas cloud causes multiple images of distant quasar

2013-08-29
For the first time, astronomers have seen the image of a distant quasar split into multiple images by the effects of a cloud of ionized gas in our own Milky Way Galaxy. Such events were predicted as early as 1970, but the first evidence for one now has come from the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) radio telescope system. The scientists observed the quasar 2023+335, nearly 3 billion light-years from Earth, as part of a long-term study of ongoing changes in some 300 quasars. When they examined a series of images of 2023+335, they noted dramatic ...

ORNL-grown oxygen 'sponge' presents path to better catalysts, energy materials

2013-08-29
Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a new oxygen "sponge" that can easily absorb or shed oxygen atoms at low temperatures. Materials with these novel characteristics would be useful in devices such as rechargeable batteries, sensors, gas converters and fuel cells. Materials containing atoms that can switch back and forth between multiple oxidation states are technologically important but very rare in nature, says ORNL's Ho Nyung Lee, who led the international research team that published its findings in Nature Materials. ...

Space laser to prove increased broadband possible

2013-08-29
When NASA's Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD) begins operation aboard the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission managed by NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., it will attempt to show two-way laser communication beyond Earth is possible, expanding the possibility of transmitting huge amounts of data. This new ability could one day allow for 3-D High Definition video transmissions in deep space to become routine. "The goal of the LLCD experiment is to validate and build confidence in this technology so that future ...

Biodiversity in Ontario's Great Lakes region may be greater than we thought

2013-08-29
This news release is available in French. Branched Bartonia (Bartonia paniculata), a threatened species, is a spindly annual plant that grows to 40 cm tall and has tiny white flowers. Researchers at Trent University compared genetic data from the two geographically distinct populations of this small wetland plant, and found that the Muskoka, Ontario ones are genetically very different from a core population found in New York State, 600 km away. This discovery suggests that the Branched Bartonia in Ontario is genetically unique, and therefore under a much greater threat ...

NASA's SDO mission untangles motion inside the sun

2013-08-29
Using an instrument on NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, called the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager, or HMI, scientists have overturned previous notions of how the sun's writhing insides move from equator to pole and back again, a key part of understanding how the dynamo works. Modeling this system also lies at the heart of improving predictions of the intensity of the next solar cycle. Using SDO, scientists see a performance of explosions and fountains on the solar surface. Shots of solar material leap into the air. Dark blemishes called sunspots grow, combine and ...

Pain relief technique cuts hospital stay by one-third for some surgical patients

2013-08-29
Chicago (August 28, 2013)—Surgeons at University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Cleveland, are working to reduce serious complications that have been known to occur with colorectal operations. In addition to using a set of pre-and postoperative standards that speed recovery which they have been publishing on for more than a decade, the researchers have validated yet another step surgeons can take to further reduce patients' hospital stays: adding a procedure called the transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block to patients' surgical care. The results of their study appear ...

'1 pill can kill': Effects of unintentional opioid exposure in young children

2013-08-29
Cincinnati, OH, August 29, 2013 -- Medication poisonings among children are an important public health problem. During 2010-2011, an average of 1500 children under 6 years of age was evaluated in emergency departments each year due to unintentional exposure to buprenorphine. Ingestion of strong opioids, such as buprenorphine, can cause central nervous system depression, respiratory depression, and death in young children. In a new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers study how young children are gaining access to buprenorphine, as ...

New medical conditions more likely to spark healthy changes among better-educated middle-aged people

2013-08-29
WASHINGTON, DC, August 27, 2013 -- Better-educated middle-aged Americans are less likely to smoke and more apt to be physically active than their less-educated peers. They are also more inclined to make healthy changes -- in general and in the face of new medical conditions -- and adhere to them, according to a new study in the September issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior. "This study documents that there are very large differences by education in smoking and physical activity trajectories in middle age, even though many health habits are already set ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Metformin changes blood metal levels in humans

Long-term anticoagulation discontinuation after catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation

Fractional flow reserve–guided complete vs culprit-only revascularization in non–ST-elevation myocardial infarction and multivessel disease

Participation of women in cardiovascular trials from 2017 to 2023

Semaglutide and tirzepatide in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction

Changes in biology of internal fat may be the leading cause of heart failure

Transcatheter or surgical treatment of patients with aortic stenosis at low to intermediate risk

Promising new drug for people with stubborn high blood pressure

One shot of RSV vaccine effective against hospitalization in older adults for two seasons

Bivalent RSV prefusion F protein–based vaccine for preventing cardiovascular hospitalizations in older adults

Clonal hematopoiesis and risk of new-onset myocarditis and pericarditis

Risk of myocarditis or pericarditis with high-dose vs standard-dose influenza vaccine

High-dose vs standard-dose influenza vaccine and cardiovascular outcomes in older adults

Prevalence, determinants, and time trends of cardiovascular health in the WHO African region

New study finds that, after a heart attack, women have worse prognosis when treated with beta-blockers

CNIC-led REBOOT clinical trial challenges 40-year-old standard of care for heart attack patients

Systolic blood pressure and microaxial flow pump–associated survival in infarct-related cardiogenic shock

Beta blockers, the standard treatment after a heart attack, may offer no benefit for heart attack patients and women can have worse outcomes

High Mountain Asia’s shrinking glaciers linked to monsoon changes

All DRII-ed up: How do plants recover after drought?

Research on stigma says to just ‘shake it off’

Scientists track lightning “pollution” in real time using NASA satellite

Millions of women rely on contraceptives, but new Rice study shows they may do more than just prevent pregnancy

Hot days make for icy weather, Philippine study finds

Roxana Mehran, MD, receives the most prestigious award given by the European Society of Cardiology

World's first clinical trial showing lubiprostone aids kidney function

Capturing language change through the genes

Public trust in elections increases with clear facts

Thawing permafrost raised carbon dioxide levels after the last ice age

New DNA test reveals plants’ hidden climate role

[Press-News.org] Wake up and smell the reef: Fish larvae sniff their way back home
New study uses o-DISC to show that larvae of cardinalfish, damselfish use olfactory cues as triggers