Kane Andrew S, Salierno James D, Gipson Geoffrey T, Molteno Timothy C A, Hunter Colin
Aquatic Pathobiology Laboratory, Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Maryland, 8075 Greenmead Drive, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
Water Res. 2004 Nov;38(18):3993-4001. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2004.06.028.
Behavioral alterations can be measured as endpoints for sublethal toxicity, and serve as a tool for environmental risk assessment and analysis of toxicological impact. Numerous technical and biological factors have made sublethal effects on fish behavior difficult to quantify. In order to investigate stress- and contaminant-induced behavioral alterations, a video analysis system was designed by our laboratory. With this system up to 12 fish may be individually housed in 20 L exposure arenas and automatically videotaped at multiple and discrete intervals during an experimental period. Analog video data can then digitized, converted into x,y coordinates, and finally transformed into relevant behavioral endpoints using software designed for tracking fish movement combined with specific algorithms. These endpoints include velocity, total distance traveled, angular change, percent movement, space utilization, and fractal dimension (path complexity). Data from fish exposed to a reference toxicant, MS222, and simulation experiments, are presented to exemplify alterations in fish behavior associated with exposure, and accuracy and precision, respectively. The system provides flexibility to analyze any observed movement behavior, is remotely controlled, and can be transportable. These movement analyses can be used to identify characteristic behavioral responses to a variety of environmentally-relevant stressors, and assist in risk assessment and the development of more sensitive lowest observable effect level and no observable effect level for sentinel species.
行为改变可作为亚致死毒性的终点指标，并用作环境风险评估和毒理学影响分析的工具。众多技术和生物学因素使得对鱼类行为的亚致死效应难以量化。为了研究应激和污染物诱导的行为改变，我们实验室设计了一个视频分析系统。利用该系统，多达12条鱼可以单独饲养在20升的暴露试验池中，并在实验期间以多个离散间隔自动录像。然后，模拟视频数据可以数字化，转换为x、y坐标，并最终使用专为跟踪鱼类运动设计的软件结合特定算法转换为相关的行为终点指标。这些终点指标包括速度、总游动距离、角度变化、运动百分比、空间利用率和分形维数（路径复杂性）。给出了暴露于参考毒物MS222的鱼类数据以及模拟实验数据，分别举例说明与暴露相关的鱼类行为改变以及准确性和精确性。该系统为分析任何观察到的运动行为提供了灵活性，可远程控制且便于携带。这些运动分析可用于识别对各种与环境相关应激源的特征性行为反应，并有助于风险评估以及为哨兵物种制定更敏感的最低可观察效应水平和无观察效应水平。
