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Are all signals the same? Ontogenetic change in the response to conspecific and heterospecific chemical alarm signals by juvenile green sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus)

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Abstract

Within aquatic communities, individuals may gain survival benefits by responding to the chemical alarm signals of heterospecific prey guild members. Piscivorous individuals, however, should be selected to use such chemical signals as foraging cues. A variety of centrarchid species, such as largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), undergo an ontogenetic change in their response to the chemical alarm cues of heterospecific guild members, switching from antipredator to foraging responses. This ontogenetic shift should occur when potential foraging benefits outweigh any survival advantage gained from an antipredator response. To test this model, we exposed juvenile green sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus) to the skin extracts of conspecifics, a heterospecific prey guild member (finescale dace, Phoxinus neogeaus) or an allopatric heterospecific (green swordtails, Xiphophorus helleri). Juvenile sunfish exhibited a significant positive relationship between standard length and time spent moving and a significant negative relationship between length and time in a spine-erect posture, when exposed to dace skin extract, but not to either swordtail or conspecific skin extracts. Smaller individuals of less than 90 mm standard length (SL) decreased time moving and increased time with spines erect (indicating an antipredator response) while larger individuals (>90 mm SL) increased time moving and decreased time with spines erect (indicating a foraging response), when exposed to dace skin extract. Conversely, juvenile sunfish, regardless of size tested, always exhibited an antipredator response to conspecific skin extract. Sunfish exhibited no change in behaviour in response to swordtail skin extracts. These data further support our model of a threat sensitive trade-off in the response to chemical alarm signals by juvenile centrarchids.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank James Grant and Antoine Leduc for comments on earlier versions of this manuscript, and Isabelle Désormeaux, Spence Gustav, Desiree Plata, and Josh White for assistance in the laboratory. Financial support was provided to G.E.B. by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Concordia University and Union College. All work reported herein was conducted in accordance with Union College IACUC protocol number 2-27-98 and Concordia University Animal Care Committee protocol number AC-2002-BROW.

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  1. Department of Biology, Concordia University, 1455 Boulevard de Maisonneuve Ouest, Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1M8, Canada

    Justin L. Golub & Grant E. Brown

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  1. Justin L. Golub
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  2. Grant E. Brown
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Correspondence to Grant E. Brown.

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Communicated by A. Mathis

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Golub, J.L., Brown, G.E. Are all signals the same? Ontogenetic change in the response to conspecific and heterospecific chemical alarm signals by juvenile green sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 54, 113–118 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-003-0629-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-003-0629-9

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