Temperature and turbidity interact synergistically to alter anti-predator behaviour in the Trinidadian guppy

Due to climate change, freshwater habitats are facing increasing
temperatures and more extreme weather that disrupts water flow. Together
with eutrophication and sedimentation from farming, quarrying and
urbanisation, freshwaters are becoming more turbid as well as warmer.
Predators and prey need to be able to respond to one another adaptively,
yet how changes in temperature and turbidity interact to affect
predator-prey behaviour remains unexplored. Using a fully factorial
design, we tested the combined effects of increased temperature and
turbidity on the behaviour of guppy shoals (Poecilia reticulata) in the
presence of one of their natural cichlid predators, the blue acara
(Andinoacara pulcher). Our results demonstrate that the prey and predator
were in closest proximity in warmer, turbid water, with an interaction
between these stressors showing a greater than additive effect. There was
also an interaction between the stressors in the inter-individual
distances between the prey, where shoal cohesion increased with
temperature in clear water, but decreased when temperature increased in
turbid water. The closer proximity to predators and reduction in shoaling
in turbid, warmer water may increase the risk of predation for the guppy,
suggesting that the combined effects of elevated temperature and turbidity
may favour predators rather than prey.