Beyond Survival: Decoding Sublethal Stress Responses and Adaptive Physiology in Aquatic Organisms

Aquatic ecology has traditionally focused on lethal responses to pollutants and stressors to determine environmental health. However, sublethal stress indicators have increasingly gained attention as vital for understanding an organism's ability to cope with environmental changes. Although mortality-based endpoints remain prominent in ecotoxicology, many stressors induce significant biological changes long before reaching lethal levels. These subtle disruptions often present in critical systems like the nervous system, cardiovascular functions, and metabolic pathways, influencing pivotal aspects like growth, reproduction, and overall survival. As climate change and chemical pollution escalate, deciphering the complex stress responses in aquatic vertebrates becomes ever more essential. Utilising physiological insights, particularly when integrated with behavioral and molecular analyses, offers a comprehensive approach to studying resilience, plasticity, and early warning systems within aquatic habitats.

This Research Topic aims to stimulate a rich, multidisciplinary exploration of sublethal stress responses in aquatic organisms. By concentrating on physiological endpoints such as neurophysiology, cardiac performance, behavior, respiration, and epigenetic regulation, our aim is to illuminate the coping and adaptive mechanisms organisms employ. An emphasis on bridging model and non-model species, encompassing both freshwater and marine environments, and leveraging advanced analytical methodologies will be central. This topic seeks to foster collaborations across environmental toxicology, comparative physiology, and evolutionary biology fields, while highlighting the ecological significance of nuanced physiological disturbances prompted by global environmental changes.

To obtain deeper insights into these complex landscapes, research articles, reviews, methodologies, and perspectives examining the sublethal physiological impacts on fish and aquatic vertebrates are welcome. Topics of interest include:

o Neurobehavioral consequences of contaminants

o Cardiophysiology and its relation to stress resilience

o Metabolic and respiratory system performance under stress

o Endocrine system disruptions

o Photopharmacological interventions and outcomes

o Innovative -omics and epigenetic revelations

Furthermore, research comparing interspecies responses, contrasting freshwater with marine environments, or encompassing various taxonomic groups like non-vertebrate aquatic models such as Daphnia, is strongly encouraged. Manuscripts employing pioneering experimental design, in vivo imaging, behavioral automation, or evolutionary perspectives will find a place in this comprehensive collection that seeks to enhance our comprehension of stress physiology in the Anthropocene.

Appendix: We invite submissions of original research, reviews, methods, and perspectives.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Sublethal stress, Aquatic organisms, Physiological adaptations, Environmental toxicology, Neurobehavioral impacts, Comparative physiology, Ecological resilience

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.