{"title":"The effects of individual differences in anxiety on anti-predator responses, thermal and hypoxia tolerance in zebrafish (Danio rerio)","authors":"Xiao-hong Li, Cheng Fu, Xue-ting Tan, Shi-jian Fu","doi":"10.1016/j.cbpa.2025.111899","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Anxiety, as a crucial stress response to potential threats in animals, exhibits significant individual differences, with high-anxiety individuals typically allocating greater attentional resources to threat detection. We hypothesized that such individuals would demonstrate enhanced threat sensitivity and anti-predator responses, but compromised stress tolerance due to constrained energy allocation. Using the novel tank diving test, we screened zebrafish (<em>Danio rerio</em>) with high- and low-anxiety phenotypes and compared their anti-predator responses (anxiety-like behaviors, metabolic rates, and predator avoidance behaviors) under predator chemical or visual cues, along with their thermal and hypoxia tolerance capacities under baseline conditions. The results demonstrate that high-anxiety zebrafish exhibit enhanced anti-predator responses in threatening environments, while showing no compromised stress tolerance at baseline. These findings demonstrate the adaptive superiority of the high-anxiety phenotype in high-predation-risk environments, providing theoretical foundations for understanding the evolutionary role of anxiety in fish.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55237,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology A-Molecular & Integrative Physiology","volume":"307 ","pages":"Article 111899"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology A-Molecular & Integrative Physiology","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1095643325000984","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"BIOCHEMISTRY & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Anxiety, as a crucial stress response to potential threats in animals, exhibits significant individual differences, with high-anxiety individuals typically allocating greater attentional resources to threat detection. We hypothesized that such individuals would demonstrate enhanced threat sensitivity and anti-predator responses, but compromised stress tolerance due to constrained energy allocation. Using the novel tank diving test, we screened zebrafish (Danio rerio) with high- and low-anxiety phenotypes and compared their anti-predator responses (anxiety-like behaviors, metabolic rates, and predator avoidance behaviors) under predator chemical or visual cues, along with their thermal and hypoxia tolerance capacities under baseline conditions. The results demonstrate that high-anxiety zebrafish exhibit enhanced anti-predator responses in threatening environments, while showing no compromised stress tolerance at baseline. These findings demonstrate the adaptive superiority of the high-anxiety phenotype in high-predation-risk environments, providing theoretical foundations for understanding the evolutionary role of anxiety in fish.
期刊介绍:
Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology of Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology. This journal covers molecular, cellular, integrative, and ecological physiology. Topics include bioenergetics, circulation, development, excretion, ion regulation, endocrinology, neurobiology, nutrition, respiration, and thermal biology. Study on regulatory mechanisms at any level of organization such as signal transduction and cellular interaction and control of behavior are also published.