Chemosensory avoidance behaviors of marine amphipods revealed using a millifluidic perfusion technology.

Chemosensory avoidance behaviors of aquatic invertebrates provide a functional link between early responses to pollutants at the infraorganismal and ecologically relevant supraorganismal levels. Despite significant importance, there is, however, a notable lack of user-friendly laboratory techniques. Here, we demonstrate a scalable millifluidic platform for higher throughput quantitative chemobehavioral studies. With a proof-of-concept application of this technology, we discovered that native Australian marine amphipods exhibit rapid avoidance behaviors against a panel of environmental stressors. This work provides a novel avenue for the development of quantitative neurobehavioral systems applicable in diverse environmental risk assessment studies.