Environmental Science · Ecology
Caffeine exposure changed the anti-predator behaviour of freshwater amphipods, small crustaceans that are important food for aquatic predators. At higher concentrations, the chemical made them more active and less fearful of light, similar to the effect of a parasite that manipulates its host.
Blue mussels from an Irish hybrid zone responded to repeated heat stress with time-dependent changes in stress-related genes. One key heat-shock gene (hsp24) was strongly induced 24 hours after heat exposure, but expression dropped at later time points. The findings show that how mussels cope with warming may depend on when researchers measure their responses—an issue that matters for managing both wild populations and mussel farming.
