Belgium

Over-fishing is a consequential anthropogenic driver of demographic and phenotypic changes in aquatic fish populations. In Lake Malombe, Malawi, over the past 40 years, intense fishing pressure has led to local extinctions, dramatic population declines, and rapid life history shifts in several commercially important benthic cichlid species. In some of these species, size at maturation has decreased by approximately 50% within only 20 generations, suggesting a strong effect of either fisheries-induced evolution or phenotypic plasticity in response to human induced harvest pressure.
To disentangle the genetic and plastic components of this life history shift, we conducted a common garden experiment using offspring from populations experiencing contrasting fishing pressures. Juveniles from heavily fished and weakly fished populations were reared under standardised laboratory conditions to control for environmental effects and isolate genetic differences. We observed an accelerated growth, earlier maturation, but reduced reproductive investment in offspring from heavily fished populations, consistent with a rapid evolutionary responses to fisheries pressure. Importantly, because of the non-size selective fisheries in Lake Malombe these shifts in life history traits are driven by biotic interactions such as competition for mates and reproductive opportunities, with smaller, faster-maturing individuals potentially gaining an advantage in heavily fished populations.
This work and evolutionary genomic investigations we have carried out highlight how human-induced pressures reshape the genetic determination of life history strategies, with cascading consequences for intra- and interspecific interactions, population stability, and the long-term resilience of biodiversity hotspots like Lake Malawi.

SEB Conference 2025

Disentangling evolutionary and plastic responses to over-fishing of Malawi Cichlid fish in a common garden experiment

rapid

fisheries

evolution

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SEB’s Annual Conference is celebrated for creating the perfect composition of research, new discoveries and collaborative connections. Be creative and innovative by exchanging ideas and knowledge with masters of biology from all over the world.

The pace-of-life hypothesis predicts that intrinsic traits such as rates of metabolism and growth influence behaviour, with high-metabolism individuals expected to be bolder, more aggressive, and more exploratory. These behavioural tendencies may increase predation risk by driving individuals to forage in riskier habitats. We tested this hypothesis in a freshwater fish community by integrating metabolic assays, growth analysis, stable isotope analysis, and acoustic telemetry. Using lakeside intermittent flow respirometry, we measured routine metabolic rate (RMR) as a proxy for baseline energy expenditure. Using biopsy, we back-calculated individual rates of growth and quantified stable isotope ratios (δ13 C and δ15 N) to infer diet composition and trophic position. Fish were then implanted with predation-sensing acoustic transmitters to track movement, habitat use, and predation events in a whole-lake acoustic positioning system (Ontario, Canada). The lake was divided into habitat zones (e.g., open water, vegetated shallows, nearshore areas) to assess how individuals used risky versus safe habitats. We studied prey species (bluegill Lepomis macrochirus, pumpkinseed Lepomis gibbosus) and a predator (largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides) to characterize metabolic-behavioural syndromes and their links to diet, growth, movement, and survival. This research rigorously tests the pace-of-life hypothesis and may inform conservation efforts by identifying traits that increase vulnerability to predation and environmental change.

Predicting the behaviour of wild fish using metabolism, growth, and diet

Plant hydraulics is a growing field that investigates links between the structure and the hydrodynamic function of plants, from cellular to ecosystem scales. Recently, a collaboration of plant hydraulic physiologists and palaeobotanists began re-examining the fossil record to identify the function of key elements of plant vascular structure at the time of their origin.Xylem conduits, which mediate water transport in vascular plants, are subject to blockage by vapour-phase embolism. Under drought, the uncontrolled spread of embolism through the xylem results in mortality through hydraulic failure. Vascular anatomy and morphology can facilitate or constrain embolism spread by affecting the connectivity of the xylem conduit network. Insofar as vascular structure affects the risk of hydraulic failure, it must be subject to selection by drought.Network analysis suggests that drought selection shaped the well-known trend of increasing vascular complexity with plant or organ size. Selection by hydraulic failure would thus have promoted the early diversification of primary vascular forms during the Silurian-Devonian Radiation of plant life onto land. The early Devonian emergence of secondary xylem (wood) conferred resistance to hydraulic failure on par with increasingly complex contemporaneous primary vascular anatomies. Woody growth was particularly effective at maintaining embolism resistance with increasing plant size, although the earliest known woods could not support hydraulically safe arborescent habit without further anatomical innovations. The ongoing reanalysis of the fossil record aims to reinterpret the function of emerging vascular structures with respect to hydraulic safety, ultimately setting the hydraulics of extant plants in a revised evolutionary perspective.

Selection by drought in the early evolution of plant vascular networks

A prominent feature of biodiverse habitats is the acoustic landscape. Yet very little is known about the acoustic landscapes of extinct environments, for example of a Jurassic Forest. One problem is that recovering the real acoustic features of extinct tetrapods is challenging, as their vocal organs do not readily fossilize. Conversely, the stridulating organs present in the sclerotised cuticle of some arthropods do fossilise well. For example, the stridulatory structures (a file, plectrum, and sound radiating membranes) in the forewings of male crickets and katydids are preserved in fossils, offering a unique opportunity to investigate species diversification and the acoustic landscapes of the past. Integrating experimental and numerical procedures, several katydid fossils (of nine species) were studied to recreate the acoustic landscape of the mid Jurassic (Inner Mongolia, China). Wing vibration and calling songs of these fossils were recovered and validated. Jurassic katydids used sharp pure-tones (musical) calls, which made localization by eavesdropping predators difficult. While 60% of these species communicate in the low audio range 5-7 kHz, one species exploited ultrasounds (>20kHz). Results imply that ultrasonic communication in insects was established long before the emergence of bats. The results extend current understanding of the Jurassic soundscape, revealing insect song and hearing diversity, but also highlighting the co-evolutionary pressures and constraints exerted by ultrasound sensitive eavesdropping insectivorous predators other than bats. Such arm race is proposed as one of the main pressures that boosted the evolution of the mammalian cochlea and the sophisticated ‘insect cochlea’ shown by living katydids.

The reconstruction of an extinct Jurassic soundscape

Jumping represent one of the most widely used modes of locomotion in the animal kingdom. However, this does not mean that the characteristics of jumps are universal; there are many different ways in which jumps are powered (actuated). In orthopterans there are two main methods of actuation; direct muscle actuation and latch mediated spring actuation. It has previously been suggested that spring actuated systems provide propulsive power to an animal, which in turn generates incredibly fast jumps. Clown hoppers (Eumastacidae) are a group of south American grasshopper which use their spring actuated laterally projected legs to achieve jump speeds of up to 3.1 m/s. Similar to the muscle actuated group of arboreal orthopterans (Phlugidini), the clown hopper will perform targeted jumps, although the level of control which they employ is less fine tuned. When clown hoppers are presented with 3 different overhead target heights (50 mm, 75 mm and 100 mm), there was a significant difference between the linear velocity (m/s) at take-off with jump speed increasing as target height increases. However, whilst there was a generalised decrease in angular velocity (rad/s), this was not significant suggesting that whilst the hoppers can control the extent to which the spring in their legs powers the jumps (represented by the proportionate change in speed of the jumps), the ability to control jump rotation at different heights remains obscure.

Introducing the Monkey Grasshopper, a spring-powered jumper with the ability to control its linear velocity

The clade of boxfish (Ostraciidae and Aracanidae) are reef-dwelling fish that share a unique feature, the carapace. The body of Ostraciidae is completely covered by a bony shell of fused hexagonal plates. In Aracanidae, the carapace also covers the body, but is not completely closed at the caudal peduncle for some of the species. The carapace provides protection against predators, but its shape also defines their hydrodynamic characteristics. Among the many extant species, shapes vary between boxes with major lateral keels, over wedges with dorsal and ventrolateral keels, to more disc-like shapes with major dorsoventral keels. Here, we studied how hydrodynamic performance differs among twenty-nine species of boxfish. Drag forces and pitch and yaw moments were calculated using computational fluid dynamics simulations based on 3D laser-scans of museum specimens, which were all digitally rescaled to the same carapace volume. Up to 40% difference was observed between boxfish species with the lowest drag force and those with the highest drag force. We determined that Aracanidae have a significantly higher drag force than Ostraciidae. Additionally, we found a strong positive correlation between drag force and frontal-projected area and a negative correlation between drag force and carapace length. The strong variability in drag force related to the degree of axial compression of boxfish shapes, together with the relatively high coefficients of drag in boxfish in general, suggests that weak selection pressures on drag-reduction are common in this group.

Variation in hydrodynamic performance among boxfish carapace shapes

Human activities release increasing amounts of chemical contaminants into aquatic environments, raising concerns about their impact on wildlife. Many pollutants act as endocrine disruptors, interfering with hormone-regulated processes essential for growth, reproduction, and development. In fish, such disruptions affect skeletal formation, muscle function, and neural signaling, all of which also affect behaviour. While chemical exposure is indeed known to alter fish behaviour, such as reducing responses to light-dark stimuli, it remains unclear whether these effects stem from skeletal changes or physiological disruptions. To address this, we study how altered skeletal mineralization affects zebrafish swimming behaviour. Using larval zebrafish (Danio rerio), a well-described animal model for skeletal development, we first manipulated calcium availability during early development to induce either increased or decreased bone mineralization. Larvae raised in low-calcium conditions lacked bone mineralization and moved less in 24-hour observations. In light-dark transition assays, they also failed to respond properly. Since calcium is critical for bone formation, muscle contraction, and neural signaling, we extended our study to F0 knockout larvae. F0 knock-outs of enpp1 (promotes mineralization by generating inorganic pyrophosphate) and entpd5a (inhibits mineralization by hydrolyzing nucleotide triphosphates) were generated and validated using genotyping, skeletal staining, and elemental analysis. Swimming behaviour was quantified at 5 days post-fertilization using automated tracking. Even at this early stage, altered mineralization resulted in reduced locomotion. We anticipate that a better understanding of the effect of skeletal mineralization on behaviour will allow for a more thorough understanding of the effect chemical pollutants have on fish behaviour.

Behaviour to the bone: linking skeletal mineralization to behaviour in larval zebrafish (Danio rerio)

Historically relatively sheltered from human disturbance, Arctic regions now face increasing threats from expanding maritime routes and industrial activities. These pressures add to existing environmental stressors, raising concerns about the conservation of fragile polar ecosystems, which are particularly vulnerable to cumulative impacts such as ocean acidification (OA) and widespread pollution. Combined stressors may cause unpredictable non-additive effects on marine ectotherms. Furthermore, by using traditional approaches limited to whole-organism levels, such as metabolic rates and mortality, we have overlooked sublethal, early-signals of physiological failure occurring at the cellular level. Therefore, we aimed at exploring the molecular responses of a key Arctic zooplankton species to different environmentally-realistic doses of a toxic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon under an OA scenario. For this purpose, the metabolome and lipidome of field-collected copepodid IV specimens of the copepod Calanus glacialis were profiled after two and ten days of exposure within an orthogonal design of four pyrene concentrations (0, 10, 100 and 200 nM) and two levels of OA (ambient and low pH). Multivariate analyses evidence an interaction between OA and pyrene contamination over time, albeit pyrene is a major driver. OA seemingly shifts the metabolomic dose response to pyrene compared to ambient pH. Further integrative analyses will help to decipher the functional consequences of such molecular alterations, to identify early-signals of physiological failure. Implementing multilayer knowledge from such multifactorial experimental approaches will be critical in improving our ability to predict the fate of Arctic species in future, more disturbed polar oceans.

In the Search of Sublethal Biomarkers: Metabolomic and Lipidomic Profiling of Arctic Copepods Facing Ocean Acidification and Pyrene Pollution

In aquatic ecosystems, the growth and physiology of species are profoundly influenced by trophic interactions and environmental conditions, especially light and food sources. Daphnids, commonly known as water fleas, have a central role in freshwater ecosystems due to their wide distribution, crucial position in food webs, and sensitivity to environmental changes. In this study, we focused on the impact of food quality and light conditions on lifespan, growth, reproduction, and metabolic responses of daphnids. Frozen algae food is a less nutritious source that led to slower growth, reduced reproduction, and induced metabolic restrictions, while deprivation of light induced distinct metabolic changes, suggesting disruptions in circadian rhythms. These changes point to potential impacts on broader ecological interactions and metabolic efficiency.
Our research highlights the importance of food quality and light in shaping aquatic organisms’ physiology, providing insights into the ecological and metabolic processes that govern freshwater species. The study’s results could inform broader ecological models and risk assessments, emphasising the interconnectedness of environmental factors on aquatic species' health and ecosystem dynamics.

Molecular approaches unravel the impact of food quality and light on the physiology of daphnids 

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AM fungi) may facilitate plants during increasingly prevalent extreme stress events such as heatwaves and drought. Heatwaves are commonly characterised by the presence of extreme temperatures and frequently co-occur with droughts or water deficits. The combination of these stressors is deleterious for plants and the role of AM fungi in ameliorating this compound stress event is not fully understood, particularly within threatened communities such as grasslands. This study has investigated the role of field-collected AM fungi in facilitating plant responses to heat and water stress using a simulated heatwave event in a factorial greenhouse experiment to test how native grassland species respond. We found that the impact of heat stress combined with water stress on plant performance was shown to be greater than the additive effects of heat and water stress in isolation. AM fungi was shown to have variable influences on plant growth, fitness, and physiological responses but these influences were commonly at odds with previous publications on AM fungi with agricultural species. Most notably, AM fungi increased the germination success of seeds of one species grown following exposure to climate stress. The results of this study highlight the dynamic role of AM fungi and help us understand grassland responses to heatwave events in the face of increasing extreme climate events. Furthermore, this study emphasises the importance of building ecologically relevant ex-situ experiments to study and understand current global pressures facing natural ecological communities.

Interactions of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi with Native Grassland Species Under Combined Heat and Water Stress

Traditional plant phenotyping for physiology, morphology, chemical composition and plant or seed biomass is labor-intensive and difficult to scale up. Like other scientific fields, it has benefited from automation, both in controlled environments and in the field. For practical reasons – particularly the need to handle the large numbers of plants required for genetic analysis - choices generally have been to measure plants fast and non-destructively. As a result, the traits being measured have shifted from ‘hard-core variables’ such as CO2  uptake rates or total plant biomass, to proxies like fluorescence or digital biomass. In this talk, I will discuss some of the implications of this shift for interpretating experimental results.
Another challenge is the gap that often exists between results obtained in controlled conditions and those observed in the field. This issue becomes even more pressing when using expensive high-throughput phenotyping equipment.  Addressing this discrepancy requires greater attention from the phenotyping community. We will also explore strategies to bridge this gap.

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