Data from: Acidification and γ-aminobutyric acid independently alter kairomone-induced behaviour

Exposure to high pCO2 or low pH alters sensation and behaviour in many marine animals. We show that crab larvae lose their ability to detect and/or process predator kairomones after exposure to low pH over a time scale relevant to diel pH cycles in coastal environments. Previous work suggests that acidification affects sensation and behaviour through altered neural function, specifically the action of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), because a GABA antagonist, gabazine, restores the original behaviour. Here, however, gabazine resulted in a loss of kairomone detection/processing, regardless of pH. Our results also suggest that GABAergic signalling is necessary for kairomone identification in these larvae. Hence, the mechanism for the observed pH effect varies from the original GABA hypothesis. Furthermore, we suggest that this pH effect is adaptive under diel-cycling pH.暴露于高pCO₂或低pH环境会改变诸多海洋动物的感知与行为。本研究发现，在与沿岸环境昼夜pH循环对应的时间尺度下，经低pH暴露后，蟹类幼体将丧失检测及/或处理捕食者利它素（kairomones）的能力。既往研究表明，海洋酸化可通过改变神经功能，具体而言是通过调控γ-氨基丁酸（GABA）的作用，影响动物的感知与行为，因为使用GABA拮抗剂加巴嗪（gabazine）可使行为恢复至初始状态。然而在本研究中，无论pH条件如何，加巴嗪均会导致利它素检测/处理能力的丧失。本研究结果同时显示，GABA能信号传导对于这些幼体识别利它素是不可或缺的。因此，本研究观测到的pH影响机制与最初提出的GABA假说并不一致。此外，我们提出，在昼夜循环pH环境中，这种pH诱导的效应具备适应性。