Antipredator behaviour affected by prey condition, food availability and pH-mediated info-disruption
Section snippets
Study Organism and Husbandry
Physa acuta is a pulmonate snail that lives in a variety of freshwater habitats over an extensive geographical range (Dillon, Wethington, Rhett, & Smith, 2002; Turner & Montgomery, 2009). The species has the ability to chemically detect the predation of conspecifics, responding by crawling towards or above the water line or under a refuge, depending upon the predator species present and the availability of refugia (Crowl & Covich, 1990; Dewitt, Sih, & Hucko, 1999; Turner et al., 1999). Because
Experiment 1: Testing for Condition Dependence
In our test of predator avoidance behaviour, we found effects of predator cue concentration, snail condition and food availability; there were no treatment interactions (Table 1). Snails spent more time in the low-predation risk habitat (i.e. near the surface) at higher concentrations of predator cue, with a shape consistent with a saturating response curve (Fig. 1a). High-condition snails showed stronger predator avoidance than low-condition snails (Fig. 1b), and snails in the no-food group
Discussion
We demonstrated that prey snails are sensitive to increasing concentrations of predator cues and that their response to predators in the form of predator avoidance and changes to foraging behaviour are mediated by an individual's condition and food availability. When pH was increased or decreased from medium, it caused the prey to alter their behaviour in a manner consistent with info-disruption.
In both experiments, the snails responded to increased concentrations of predator cues with a shape
Acknowledgments
This research was the result of a U.S. National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates supplement to DEB-1119430 to R.A.R. Constructive comments from Dr Ron Rutowski and two anonymous referees improved the quality of the manuscript.
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