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Context-dependent relationships between metabolism and behavior across temperature acclimations in sheepshead minnows (Cyprinodon variegatus)

Schumm, Madison1; Ackerly, Kerri Lynn1; Esbaugh, Andrew J.1

Published Dec 05, 2025 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.41ns1rnt6

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Abstract

Marine fish are able to cope changes in their environment through altering their physiology and behaviour. Among environmental stressors, thermal stress is particularly relevant for fish because increased temperature leads to elevated baseline metabolic costs and also has known impacts on behavior. Whether behavioral and physiological responses to warming are linked has become a major area of interest within the broader study of animal behavior. The Performance Model provides a conceptual framework linking metabolism and behavior such that individual differences in baseline metabolic demand influence behavioral expression specifically related to acquiring resources that support metabolic machinery. Thus, under warming, increased energy demand should lead to increased risk-taking and lower behaviours that deter predation (e.g., shoaling and scototaxis). Alternatively, behavior related to risk-taking has been linked to differences in physiological stress, particularly cortisol. On this background, our objective was to assess behavioral and metabolic responses to warming and the relationship between behaviour and metabolic rate across two temperatures in an estuarine model teleost, the sheepshead minnow (Cyprinodon variegatus). Fish were acclimated to 22°C or 32°C for 14-days and standard metabolic rate (SMR) was measured. A separate group of fish were acutely raised to 32°C following acclimation at the control temperature. Each fish subsequently tested in a series of behavioural assays to assess activity, exploration, sociability, and anxiety-like behavior. As anticipated, warmer temperatures increased in SMR and increased activity while reducing anxiety-like behavior. However, relationships between behavior and metabolism were present only in control conditions and dissipated under the warming. We sought to explain differences in behavioral-metabolic patterns across the two temperatures through mitochondrial performance and baseline cortisol. We argue that the behavioral-metabolic relationships are sensitive to context and environmental factors need to be considered when exploring the intersection between behavior and physiology.