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Rapid adaptation of a rotifer prey population to non-consumptive predation pressures

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Abstract

To test the hypothesis that non-consumptive predation pressures favor genotypes that have higher equilibrium densities or mictic ratios, we expose replicate populations of the rotifer Brachionus angularis to low (LK) and high (HK) concentrations of predator Asplanchna kairomones. Over 75 days (25 asexual generations) of selection, LK-treated populations have higher equilibrium densities and lower mictic ratios than the control populations. The opposite occurs for HK-treated populations. These results suggest that compared with the control, LK and HK select for genotypes with higher equilibrium densities and mictic ratios, respectively. Common garden bioassays reveal that in the absence of Asplanchna kairomones, populations with an LK selection history have a higher average intrinsic rate of population increase, and those with an HK selection history have a higher average mictic ratio than those with the control selection history, which suggest that adaptations to LK and HK increase average intrinsic rate of population increase and mictic ratio of prey populations, respectively. Increased intrinsic rate of population increase and mictic ratio can serve as strategies of offsetting mortality from predation and escaping the predator, and thus enable prey to survive low and high predation pressures, respectively.

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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 31971562, 31470015) and University Synergy Innovation Program of Anhui Province (Grant No. GXXT-2020-075).

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Author notes

  1. Ling Pan and Han Zhu are share first authorship.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Collaborative Innovation Center of Recovery and Reconstruction of Degraded Ecosystem in Wanjiang Basin Co-funded By Anhui Province and Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, School of Ecology and Environment, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, 241002, Anhui, People’s Republic of China

    Ling Pan, Han Zhu, Yi-Long Xi, Xin-Feng Cheng, Ya-Li Ge, Xian-Ling Xiang & Xin-Li Wen

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  1. Ling Pan
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by LP and HZ. The first draft of the manuscript was written by LP and YLX, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yi-Long Xi.

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The manuscript has not been submitted to more than one journal for simultaneous consideration, or published elsewhere in any form or language (partially or in full). The submitted work is original and presents all results of a single study clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation. All authors adhered to discipline-specific rules for acquiring and processing data. No data, text, or theories by others are presented as if they were the authors’ own. Proper acknowledgements to other works have been given. No material is verbatim copied.

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Pan, L., Zhu, H., Xi, YL. et al. Rapid adaptation of a rotifer prey population to non-consumptive predation pressures. Hydrobiologia 850, 4171–4179 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-023-05288-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-023-05288-2

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