The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Response of upstream migrating juvenile European eel (Anguilla anguilla) to electric fields: application of the marginal gains concept to fish screening

Response of upstream migrating juvenile European eel (Anguilla anguilla) to electric fields: application of the marginal gains concept to fish screening
Response of upstream migrating juvenile European eel (Anguilla anguilla) to electric fields: application of the marginal gains concept to fish screening
The decline in European eel (Anguilla anguilla) recruitment over the past half-century is partly due to river infrastructure that delays or blocks upstream migration to rearing habitat. Stimuli, such as electricity, can be used to modify the behaviour of downstream moving fish and guide them to preferred routes of passage at river infrastructure; but research on upstream migrating juvenile eel remains limited. The response of upstream migrating juvenile eel exposed to pulsed direct current (PDC) electric fields was investigated using a recirculatory flume. Eel were presented a choice of two routes upstream under either: (1) a treatment condition, in which the selection of one route resulted in exposure to High Electric Field (HEF) strength that was between 1.5–2 times stronger than the Low Electric Field (LEF) strength encountered in the alternative route; or (2) a control in which the electric field was absent in both routes. Under the treatment, five different mean HEF strengths (0.53, 0.77, 1.22, 2.17 and 3.74 Vcm-1) were tested at one of two frequencies (2 and 10 Hz). Route choice, distance downstream of the first set of electrodes at which an initial response was observed and avoidance behaviours (acceleration, retraction, switching and rejection) were compared among treatments. For the 1.22, 2.17 and 3.74 Vcm-1 and under 2 Hz, eel preferred to pass the LEF route. Avoidance was greater in the HEF route and positively related to field strength. The distance of the initial response did not differ between routes, field strengths or frequency. Upstream migrating eel avoided electric fields indicating potential to develop this approach for fish guidance. Further work is needed to test prototypes in field settings, particularly in combination with traditional physical screens to water intakes as part of a process of applying the concept of marginal gains to advance environmental impact mitigation technology.
1932-6203
Miller, Mhairi
eaa273db-109e-4e57-9346-192c1ef977c3
Sharkh, Suleiman M.
c8445516-dafe-41c2-b7e8-c21e295e56b9
Kemp, Paul S.
9e33fba6-cccf-4eb5-965b-b70e72b11cd7
Miller, Mhairi
eaa273db-109e-4e57-9346-192c1ef977c3
Sharkh, Suleiman M.
c8445516-dafe-41c2-b7e8-c21e295e56b9
Kemp, Paul S.
9e33fba6-cccf-4eb5-965b-b70e72b11cd7

Miller, Mhairi, Sharkh, Suleiman M. and Kemp, Paul S. (2022) Response of upstream migrating juvenile European eel (Anguilla anguilla) to electric fields: application of the marginal gains concept to fish screening. PLoS ONE, 17 (June), [e0270573]. (doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0270573).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The decline in European eel (Anguilla anguilla) recruitment over the past half-century is partly due to river infrastructure that delays or blocks upstream migration to rearing habitat. Stimuli, such as electricity, can be used to modify the behaviour of downstream moving fish and guide them to preferred routes of passage at river infrastructure; but research on upstream migrating juvenile eel remains limited. The response of upstream migrating juvenile eel exposed to pulsed direct current (PDC) electric fields was investigated using a recirculatory flume. Eel were presented a choice of two routes upstream under either: (1) a treatment condition, in which the selection of one route resulted in exposure to High Electric Field (HEF) strength that was between 1.5–2 times stronger than the Low Electric Field (LEF) strength encountered in the alternative route; or (2) a control in which the electric field was absent in both routes. Under the treatment, five different mean HEF strengths (0.53, 0.77, 1.22, 2.17 and 3.74 Vcm-1) were tested at one of two frequencies (2 and 10 Hz). Route choice, distance downstream of the first set of electrodes at which an initial response was observed and avoidance behaviours (acceleration, retraction, switching and rejection) were compared among treatments. For the 1.22, 2.17 and 3.74 Vcm-1 and under 2 Hz, eel preferred to pass the LEF route. Avoidance was greater in the HEF route and positively related to field strength. The distance of the initial response did not differ between routes, field strengths or frequency. Upstream migrating eel avoided electric fields indicating potential to develop this approach for fish guidance. Further work is needed to test prototypes in field settings, particularly in combination with traditional physical screens to water intakes as part of a process of applying the concept of marginal gains to advance environmental impact mitigation technology.

Text
journal.pone.0270573 - Version of Record
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.
Download (1MB)

More information

Accepted/In Press date: 14 June 2022
Published date: 30 June 2022
Additional Information: Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Miller et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 467735
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/467735
ISSN: 1932-6203
PURE UUID: 45fc1055-5fa2-43fc-903a-3f6895d92922
ORCID for Suleiman M. Sharkh: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-7335-8503
ORCID for Paul S. Kemp: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-4470-0589

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 21 Jul 2022 16:52
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:00

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Mhairi Miller
Author: Paul S. Kemp ORCID iD

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×