Sex-specific effects of psychoactive pollution on behavioral individuality and plasticity in fish.

This article investigates the sex-specific effects of chronic exposure to fluoxetine (Prozac), a widely detected pharmaceutical pollutant, on behavioral individuality and plasticity in guppies (Poecilia reticulata). Over two years and multiple generations, male guppies exposed to fluoxetine exhibited reduced behavioral individuality in activity and stress responses, while female guppies showed altered behavioral plasticity, with decreased activity variability and increased variability in stress-related freezing behavior. These findings indicate that fluoxetine impacts males and females differently at the individual behavioral level, potentially affecting ecological and evolutionary processes such as sexual selection and population resilience. The study highlights the importance of considering sex-specific responses to pharmaceutical pollution in assessing its ecological consequences.