Latest news with #Michelangeli
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Scientists issue urgent warning after witnessing disturbing changes in salmon behavior: 'Expected to have broader negative consequences'
Pharmaceutical pollution is affecting Atlantic salmon's ability to migrate, according to a study published in the journal Science in early April. Researchers from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences tracked young salmon's travel from the River Dal to the Baltic Sea, studying their reactions to clobazam and tramadol. Clobazam helps control seizures and slows down the central nervous system. Tramadol is an opioid painkiller. Exposure sped up the fish's migration, appearing to make them less anxious, but is that a good thing? Marcus Michelangeli, a study contributor from Griffith University's Australian Rivers Institute, pointed out that such changes could be detrimental. "While the increased migration success in salmon exposed to clobazam might seem like a beneficial effect, it is important to realize that any change to the natural behavior … of a species is expected to have broader negative consequences," he said, according to a release by the university. Michelangeli said that this is an "emerging global issue," with hundreds of pharmaceuticals detected in global waterways. When people flush their medications down the toilet, they enter aquatic ecosystems. Clobazam and tramadol were chosen for the study because they are common pollutants, but they're far from the only ones. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, ibuprofen and aspirin can stunt aquatic organisms' growth, and antibiotics can poison aquatic plants. If fish and other aquatic wildlife are continuously exposed to pharmaceuticals, they could end up in humans' food. They are slow to degrade, meaning they build up and you could be exposed to all the medications that have been disposed of in waterways over time. This has untold effects on human health and well-being. Unfortunately, this topic is significantly understudied. However, Michelangeli had some ideas on how to practically apply this new knowledge. According to a release by Griffith University, he said, "By designing drugs that break down more rapidly or become less harmful after use, we can significantly mitigate the environmental impact of pharmaceutical pollution." Do you worry about pesticides in your food? All the time Sometimes Not really I only eat organic Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. If you'd like to help, try limiting the amount of chemicals you use. Using organic fertilizer or ditching fabric softener can reduce your personal pollution output. To properly dispose of unused medicines, look into drug take-back locations near you. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Antianxiety drugs in waterways are changing how salmon migrate
Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. Hatched in quiet streams and rivers, salmon undertake a perilous journey to reach the open ocean where they become mature adults. Over millions of years, generations of young salmon have migrated great distances, in some cases traveling hundreds of miles from freshwater systems to the sea. However, modern salmon face a hurdle that was unknown to their ancient ancestors: pharmaceutical pollution that changes their migration behavior. Recently, researchers discovered that when a drug called clobazam accumulates in salmon's brains, migrating fish reach the ocean sooner and navigate dam obstacles faster. On the surface, this change might seem helpful to salmon. However, any deviation from normal animal behavior through human activity — particularly when psychoactive substances are involved — is a red flag, and the full extent of how drug pollution may alter salmon health, behavior and reproduction is still unknown, scientists reported April 10 in the journal Science. Clobazam, which is commonly found in wastewater, belongs to a group of medicines called benzodiazepines, which depress the central nervous system. The drug is used to prevent epileptic seizures, for short-term treatment of anxiety and to treat anxiety-related sleep disorders. But because neural wiring in fish resembles that of mammals, fish are highly susceptible to the effects of drugs that tweak human neurochemistry, said Dr. Christopher C. Caudill, a professor in the department of fish and wildlife sciences at the University of Idaho. 'Humans share a large amount of biological architecture with fishes — our physiology and anatomy are remarkably similar. Thus, it is intuitive that psychoactive drugs alter the behavior of both fishes and humans,' Caudill, who was not involved in the research, told CNN in an email. Prior research showed that benzodiazepines could alter behavior in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), but they did so under conditions unlike those experienced by wild salmon, said study coauthor Dr. Marcus Michelangeli, a lecturer in the School of Environment and Science at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia. 'Those studies were largely conducted in laboratory settings, only tracked movement over short distances — less than 100 metres (328 feet) — or used drug concentrations much higher than what salmon would typically encounter in the wild,' Michelangeli said via email. 'Our study took a different approach. We followed the entire river-to-sea migration of juvenile salmon in a natural river system, using drug concentrations that match what fish are actually exposed to in the environment.' The field investigation's findings highlight the growing risks pharmaceutical pollutants pose to wildlife populations across the globe, according to Michelangeli. For the new study, the scientists performed trials with more than 700 young salmon, or 'smolts,' in the laboratory and in the field. The research team used sound-transmitting tags to remotely track hundreds of smolts in 2020 and 2021 as the fish navigated the Dal River in central Sweden. Migrating smolts swim downriver into a reservoir, hurtle over rapids and crest two dams before finally reaching the Baltic Sea. The journey takes 10 to 13 days. Two major classes of pharmaceuticals — benzodiazepines and opioids — 'are commonly detected in rivers and streams worldwide, including in Sweden, where our study was conducted,' Michelangeli said. Time-release implants in the smolts dispensed two drugs from these classes: clobazam and tramadol. Fish received clobazam, or tramadol, or both. A control group of smolts received implants with no drugs in them at all. 'These two drugs are known to interact chemically when taken together in humans, and they often co-occur in the environment,' Michelangeli said. 'This made them a good test case to explore how pharmaceutical mixtures might affect animal behaviour.' Along with the field trials, the scientists ran a laboratory-based study on 256 smolts to confirm that the implants worked as intended and that the drugs were lingering in the fishes' bodily tissues and brains. When the researchers tracked the migrating salmon with transmitters, they found that more clobazam-exposed salmon reached the Baltic than any of the other fish. Compared with the control group, more than twice as many salmon with clobazam implants made it to the sea. Lab experiments showed that clobazam affected shoaling behavior, in which smolts stick close together to evade predators. Under the influence of clobazam, fish swam farther apart even when a predator was near, 'suggesting that the drug may reduce natural fear responses,' Michelangeli said. Fish with clobazam implants were also faster at getting past two hydropower dams along their migration route — about two to eight times faster than fish in the other groups. These dams are notorious death zones, where churning turbines can swiftly reduce smolts to salmon tartare. By diminishing fear in smolts, clobazam might briefly benefit the fish by boosting their migration success. But the drug could also increase their vulnerability to ocean predators, decreasing their chances of surviving long enough to return home to spawn, Caudill said. 'The transition from freshwater to saltwater is one of the most dangerous times in the life of a salmon because they experience many new predators in the ocean,' he said. Drug-exposed and risk-taking salmon may be more likely to reach the Baltic, but less likely to ever leave it alive. Caudill's research investigates how environmental change affects fish ecology and evolution. In future work, he said, 'I do plan to consider the potential for behavioral effects from pharmaceutical pollution.' Further study will clarify how behavioral changes from drug pollution affect long-term survival, reproduction and how populations change over time — in salmon and in other wildlife that are vulnerable to pharmaceutical contaminants. 'While more drug-exposed salmon may reach the sea, it doesn't mean they're healthy or that the population benefits in the long term,' Michelangeli said. 'The bottom line is we need to be cautious with this interpretation. Changing behaviour with pharmaceuticals — even unintentionally — could reshape whole populations in ways we don't yet understand.' Mindy Weisberger is a science writer and media producer whose work has appeared in Live Science, Scientific American and How It Works magazine.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Pharmaceutical pollution messing with fish behaviour, scientists find
Pollution from pharmaceuticals has the potential to affect the behaviour and migration of salmon, scientists revealed on Friday. Scientists employed slow-release pharmaceutical implants and animal-tracking transmitters to monitor how exposure to two common medicines affected the behaviour and migration of juvenile Atlantic salmon in Sweden's River Dal as they migrated to the Baltic Sea. The study, led by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, found that commonly detected environmental levels of clobazam – a medication often prescribed for sleep disorders – increased the river-to-sea migration success of the fish. It also found that clobazam shortened the time it took for the salmon to navigate through two hydropower dams along their migration route, obstacles that typically hinder successful migration. A follow-up experiment also found that clobazam altered shoaling behaviour. Marcus Michelangeli, from Australia's Griffith University, who was a key contributor to the study published in Science, emphasized the increasing threat of pharmaceutical pollution to wildlife and ecosystems. "Pharmaceutical pollutants are an emerging global issue, with over 900 different substances having now been detected in waterways around the world," Michelangeli said. "Of particular concern are psychoactive substances like antidepressants and pain medications, which can significantly interfere with wildlife brain function and behaviour." Increased migration success in salmon exposed to clobazam might seem like a beneficial effect, Michelangeli said. However, he warned that any change to the natural behaviour and ecology of a species was expected to have broader negative consequences both for that species and the surrounding wildlife community. Many pharmaceuticals persist in the environment due to poor biodegradability and insufficient wastewater treatment, Michelangeli said. Wastewater treatment methods were becoming more effective at reducing pharmaceutical contamination, and there was promising potential in green chemistry approaches, he added. "By designing drugs that break down more rapidly or become less harmful after use, we can significantly mitigate the environmental impact of pharmaceutical pollution in the future."
