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Adaptive growth reduction in response to fish kairomones allows mosquito larvae (Culex pipiens) to reduce predation risk

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Abstract

Phenotypic plasticity is predicted to evolve when subsequent generations are likely to experience alternating selection pressures; e.g., piscine predation on mosquitoes (Culex pipiens) varies strongly depending on habitat type. A prey-choice experiment (exp. 1) detected a predilection of common mosquito predators (sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus) for large-bodied mosquito larvae, suggesting that larvae could benefit from suppressing growth under predation risk, and experiment 2 confirmed reduced pupa size and weight when we exposed larvae to stickleback kairomones. In experiment 3, we measured adult (imago) size instead to test if altered larval growth-patterns affect adult life-history traits. We further asked how specific life-history responses are, and thus, also used kairomones from introduced Eastern mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki), and from algivorous, non-native catfish (Ancistrus sp.). Adult body mass was equally reduced in all three kairomone treatments, suggesting that a non-specific anti-predator response (e.g., reduced activity) results in reduced food uptake. However, imagines were distinctly smaller only in the stickleback treatment, pointing towards a specific, adaptive life-history shift in response to the presence of a coevolved predator: mosquito larvae appear to suppress growth when exposed to their native predator, which presumably reduces predation risk, but also affects body size after pupation. Our study suggests that (1) not all antipredator responses are necessarily predator-specific, and (2) fluctuation in the cost-benefit ratio of suppressing larval growth has selected for phenotypic plasticity in C. pipiens larval life histories. This implies costs associated with suppressed growth, for example, in the form of lower lifetime reproductive success.

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Acknowledgments

We thank H. Geupel and E. Wörner, who kindly helped with animal care. We also thank J. Kirchgesser for help with data assessment. Artworks (drawings of C. pipiens larvae and pupae, as well as G. aculeatus) were provided by V. Achenbach (ink-theater.com). The present study was prepared at the Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F), Frankfurt am Main, and financially supported by the research funding program “LOEWE—Landes-Offensive zur Entwicklung Wissenschaftlich-ökonomischer Exzellenz” of the Hessian Ministry of Higher Education, Research, and the Arts. We further thank two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments that helped to improve the manuscript. The authors do not have any conflict of interests to declare.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F), Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Jonas Jourdan & Bruno Streit

  2. Department of Ecology and Evolution, Goethe University of Frankfurt, Max-von-Laue-Straße 13, 60438, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Jonas Jourdan, Jasmin Baier & Bruno Streit

  3. Master Study Program “Ecology and Evolution” at Goethe University of Frankfurt, 60438, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Jasmin Baier

  4. School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, TW20 0EX, UK

    Rüdiger Riesch

  5. Department of Integrative Parasitology and Zoophysiology, Goethe University of Frankfurt, Max-von-Laue-Straße 13, 60438, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Sven Klimpel

  6. Department Environmental Toxicology and Medical Entomology, Institute of Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, Goethe University, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, 60590, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Ruth Müller

  7. College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Xinong Road no. 22, 712100, Yangling, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China

    Martin Plath

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  1. Jonas Jourdan
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Jourdan, J., Baier, J., Riesch, R. et al. Adaptive growth reduction in response to fish kairomones allows mosquito larvae (Culex pipiens) to reduce predation risk. Aquat Sci 78, 303–314 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-015-0432-5

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