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Reduced drift activity of two benthic invertebrate species is mediated by infochemicals of benthic fish

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Abstract

Regulating mobility by actively entering the drift under imminent predation risk is an avoidance strategy employed by aquatic macroinvertebrate species that is widely accepted within the scientific community. This response was most evident with respect to diurnal predators that feed in the water column, such as many salmonids. We investigated the role of the nocturnal benthivorous gudgeon [Gobio gobio (L.)] on the drift activity of two macroinvertebrate species known to display this behaviour: Baetis rhodani (PICTET) and Gammarus pulex (L.). Laboratory drift experiments using gudgeon kairomones were conducted with the results determining significant altered activity in the presence of gudgeon kairomones for both macroinvertebrate species. B. rhodani showed reduced drift activity in the kairomone treatment compared to the kairomone-free control, with a distinct nocturnal pattern being observed for both. G. pulex shifted from a similar day/night movement pattern to a nocturnal movement pattern with decreased activity during the day. Reduce activity during the day, whilst maintaining normal activity at night would not reduce the probability of encountering a nocturnal predator under natural conditions and therefore appears to not be a meaningful anti-predator response. To assess the relevance of these findings under natural conditions, we compared the experimental results with drift measurements from field observations. These show a significant reduction in drift activity for G. pulex and slight tendencies for reduced night-time drift for B. rhodani, under seasonal variations. We conclude that the behaviour in response to the physical contact or the hydrodynamic stimuli of nocturnal predators is the most likely explanation for the differences between the results from our laboratory experiment and the field observation. We further discuss that the observed migration patterns might have different species specific consequences for density stabilisation on a population level.

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Acknowledgments

We want to dedicate this article to our teacher and mentor Prof. Jürgen Benndorf who died in 2011 suddenly and unexpectedly. We would like to thank Kerstin Flemming for helping during the laboratory experiments with the gammarids, Andrew Kaus for linguistic support and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. This research was supported by the German Research Foundation (grant BE 1671/9-1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Aquatic Ecosystem Analysis and Management, Helmhotz Centre for Environmental Research, UFZ, Brückstr. 3a, 39114, Magdeburg, Germany

    Michael Schäffer

  2. Department of Biology, Institute for Integrated Natural Sciences, University of Koblenz-Landau, Universitätsstr. 1, 56016, Koblenz, Germany

    Carola Winkelmann & Claudia Hellmann

  3. Institute of Hydrobiology, Technische Universität Dresden, 01062, Dresden, Germany

    Jürgen Benndorf

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  1. Michael Schäffer
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  2. Carola Winkelmann
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  3. Claudia Hellmann
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  4. Jürgen Benndorf
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Correspondence to Michael Schäffer.

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Handling Editor: Michael T. Monaghan

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Schäffer, M., Winkelmann, C., Hellmann, C. et al. Reduced drift activity of two benthic invertebrate species is mediated by infochemicals of benthic fish. Aquat Ecol 47, 99–107 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-013-9428-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-013-9428-1

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