The present study examined impacts of crude oil exposure on dyad competition in juvenile red drum. Following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, it has become well established that oil exposure can constrain maximum metabolic rate, reduce aerobic scope and exercise performance in marine fish. Aerobic scope is one of the physiological characteristics that is a known determinant of dominance in fish social hierarchy formation. As such, oil exposure may predispose individuals to subordinate social status, complete with the concomitant ecological costs. We tested this hypothesis on the gregarious Gulf of Mexico species, the red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus). Using a standard dyad, one-on-one, test design, we first assessed the parameters – including size and aerobic scope– that predict social dominance. Of the tested parameters, only aerobic scope was predictive of social dominance, with dominant individuals consistently having higher aerobic scopes than subordinates. Hierarchy formation between individuals exposed to one of two oil concentrations (5.7 ± 0.5 and 9.0 ± 0.2 μg l^–1 ΣPAH₅₀) and unexposed conspecifics were then investigated. As hypothesized, fish exposed to both oil concentrations were more likely to be subordinate than what would occur by random chance. These results demonstrate that the physiological constraints imposed by oil exposure can affect social status and behavior in fishes, which can have downstream consequences for ecological fitness.

本研究检验了原油暴露对幼年红鼓中二元组竞争的影响。继2010年Deepwater Horizo​​n溢油事故之后，众所周知，溢油可以限制最大的新陈代谢率，减少有氧运动范围和海鱼的运动能力。有氧作用范围是生理特征之一，是鱼类社会等级形成中占主导地位的已知决定因素。因此，接触石油可能会使个人处于从属地位，并伴随随之而来的生态成本。我们在墨西哥湾群居的物种，即红色鼓（Sciaenops ocellatus）上检验了这一假设。）。我们使用标准的二对一测试设计，首先评估了预测社会优势的参数-包括大小和有氧运动范围。在测试的参数中，只有有氧运动范围可以预测社会主导地位，优势个人始终比下属具有更高的有氧运动范围。暴露于两个油浓度（5.7±0.5和9.0±0.2微克L的一个个体之间的层次结构的形成^-1 ΣPAH ₅₀）和未暴露的同种菌，然后进行调查。如假设的那样，暴露于两种油中的鱼比随机发生的鱼更易从属。这些结果表明，暴露于油中的生理限制会影响鱼类的社会地位和行为，从而对生态适应性产生下游影响。