Investigating how anthropogenic disturbances reshape behaviour and cognition in aquatic animals
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.
Co-first author · Under consideration — available as a preprintTesting 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&TExamining 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.
Under consideration — available as a preprintAn 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 planningPeer-reviewed journal articles
Work that is publicly available ahead of peer review