Current research

Investigating how anthropogenic disturbances reshape behaviour and cognition in aquatic animals

Pharmaceutical Pollutants & Collective Behaviour

Investigating how the benzodiazepine temazepam disrupts shoaling dynamics, collective motion, and local interaction rules in guppies. Exposure alters alignment, cohesion, and velocity in a dose- and phenotype-dependent manner, revealing that group composition modulates vulnerability to contamination.

In preparation

Neuroactive Pollution & Spatial Cognition

Testing whether the antidepressant amitriptyline impairs spatial learning in wild-caught guppies. Using repeated-trial maze assays, I found sex-specific cognitive impairment: exposed males make significantly more navigational errors, while female learning remains unaffected.

Published — ES&T

Fear Contagion & Pharmaceutical Contamination

Examining whether amitriptyline disrupts socially transmitted antipredator responses (fear contagion) in guppies. Exposed observers show impaired behavioural coupling with demonstrators and slower recovery dynamics when relying solely on social information.

Current focus — In preparation

Interspecific Information Transfer

An upcoming study assessing whether invasive guppies can eavesdrop on antipredator cues from native Australian rainbowfish, and whether pharmaceutical pollutants disrupt this cross-species social learning—with implications for invasion ecology and conservation.

In planning

Publications

Peer-reviewed journal articles

2026
Neuroactive pollution disrupts cognition in fish by causing sex-specific effects on spatial learning
Manera, J.L., Moore, E.R., Martin, J.M., Bertram, M.G., Wong, B.B.M.
Environmental Science & Technology
2026
Executive functioning in wild guppies: investigating the impact of a pharmaceutical pollutant
Moore, E.R., Manera, J.L., Brand, J.A., Bertram, M.G., Wong, B.B.M.
Animal Cognition
2026
Ovarian responses to 17α-ethinylestradiol in a marine livebearer, the Southern crested weedfish
Eastment, R.V., Ozeki, S., Manera, J.L., McGee, M.D., Whittington, C.M., Wong, B.B.M.
Reproduction
2026
Environmentally safe and just pharmacy: a framework and action plan for operating within the earth system boundary for novel entities
Boxall, A.B.A., Amerasinghe, P., Bertram, M.G., Gaw, S., Gray, A.D., Kidd, K., Langan, L.M., Leung, K.M.Y., Manera, J.L., Miglioranza, K.S.B., Oldenkamp, R., Brooks, B.W.
Environmental Science & Technology
2026
Exposure to the oestrogenic pollutant 17α-ethinyl estradiol (EE2) does not alter the behaviour of a coastal marine fish, Cristiceps australis
Ozeki, S., Eastment, R.V., Manera, J.L., Rafeeq, R., Peters, A., Martin, J.M., Wong, B.B.M.
Ethology
2025
Boat noise alters individual behaviors but not communication between partners in a fish-shrimp mutualism
Manera, J.L., Martin, J.M., Palacios, M.M., Mason, R.T., McCormick, M.I., Wong, B.B.M.
Behavioral Ecology, 36(5), araf110
2025
Are behavioral ecotoxicity endpoints relevant at the population level? Evidence-based insights for environmental protection
Bertram, M.G., Ågerstrand, M., Balshine, S., Brand, J.A., Brooks, B.W., Dang, Z., Ford, A.T., Hollert, H., LeFauve, M.K., Manera, J.L., Martin, J.M., Michelangeli, M., Moiron, M., Moore, E.R., Puglis, H.J., Sih, A., Steevens, J.A., Thoré, E.S.J., Wong, B.B.M., Zink, L., Brodin, T.
Environmental Science & Technology
2025
The impacts of pesticide exposure on fish conspecific interactions: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Morrison, K., Melhado, G., Bose, A.P.H., Eastment, R., Lagisz, M., Manera, J.L., Michelangeli, M., Ozeki, S., Wong, B.B.M., Yang, Y., Nakagawa, S.
Environmental Pollution
2025
Sex-specific effect of long-term fluoxetine exposure on inhibitory control in guppies (Poecilia reticulata)
Vinogradov, I.M., Aich, U., Manera, J.L., Fergusson, K.N., Jennions, M.D., Wong, B.B.M.
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
2024
Anthropogenic noise disrupts early-life development in a fish with paternal care
Blom, E.L., Dekhla, I.K., Bertram, M.G., Manera, J.L., Kvarnemo, C., Svensson, O.
Science of the Total Environment, 935, 173055
2023
No evidence that the widespread environmental contaminant caffeine alters energy balance or stress responses in fish
Tan, H., Brand, J.A., Clarke, B.O., Manera, J.L., Martin, J.M., Wong, B.B.M., Alton, L.A.
Ethology, 129, 666–678
2023
Increased noise levels cause behavioural and distributional changes in Atlantic cod and saithe in a large public aquarium—A case study
Andersson, M., Svensson, O., Swartz, T., Manera, J.L., Bertram, M.G., Blom, E.L.
Aquaculture, Fish and Fisheries