Pharmaceutical pollution influences river-to-sea migration in Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar )
Brand, J.A.; Michelangeli, M.; Shry, S.J.; Moore, E.R.; Bose, A.P.H.; Cerveny, D.; Martin, J.M.; Hellström, G.; McCallum, E.S.; Holmgren, A.; Thoré, E.S.J.; Fick, J.; Brodin, T.; Bertram, M.G. (2025). Pharmaceutical pollution influences river-to-sea migration in Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar ). Science (Wash.) 388(6743): 217-222. https://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.adp7174
In: Science (Washington). American Association for the Advancement of Science: New York, N.Y. ISSN 0036-8075; e-ISSN 1095-9203, more
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| Keywords |
Salmo salar Linnaeus, 1758 [WoRMS]
Marine/Coastal |
| Authors | | Top |
- Brand, J.A.
- Michelangeli, M.
- Shry, S.J.
- Moore, E.R.
- Bose, A.P.H.
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- Cerveny, D.
- Martin, J.M.
- Hellström, G.
- McCallum, E.S.
- Holmgren, A.
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- Thoré, E.S.J., more
- Fick, J.
- Brodin, T.
- Bertram, M.G.
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| Abstract |
Despite the growing threat of pharmaceutical pollution, we lack an understanding of whether and how such pollutants influence animal behavior in the wild. Using laboratory- and field-based experiments across multiple years in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar; n = 730), we show that the globally detected anxiolytic pollutant clobazam accumulates in the brain of exposed fish and influences river-to-sea migration success. Clobazam exposure increased the speed with which fish passed through two hydropower dams along their migration route, resulting in more clobazam-exposed fish reaching the sea compared with controls. We argue that such effects may arise from altered shoaling behavior in fish exposed to clobazam. Drug-induced behavioral changes are expected to have wide-ranging consequences for the ecology and evolution of wild populations. |
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