Abstract
Since the 1980s the Ponto-Caspian gammarid Dikerogammarus villosus has spread throughout Europe while displacing native species and is predicted to invade further continents. After it was introduced into Europe in the 1890s the North American crayfish Orconectes limosus spread throughout Europe and served as a vector to displace native crayfish as well. In Lake Constance (Germany) the previously dominant gammarid Gammarus roeselii is subjected to both of these invasive crustaceans. In our experiments both species placed predation pressure on G. roeselii. Kairomone perception tests in a Y-maze revealed the capability of the gammarids G. roeselii and D. villosus to perceive and avoid the scent of the predator crayfish O. limosus. Both species also avoided the kairomone of the other gammarid, but did not avoid the scent of their own species. This taxa specific behavior suggests that taxa specific signals are used. This behavior can help the gammarids avoid shelters previously occupied by predators.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Sonderforschungsbereich Bodenseelitoral (CRC 454) of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. The authors would like to thank Stefan Werner and all members of the ANEBO group for fruitful discussions on the recent invaders in Lake Constance. We thank Sonja Raub for correcting the English and style.
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Hesselschwerdt, J., Tscharner, S., Necker, J. et al. A local gammarid uses kairomones to avoid predation by the invasive crustaceans Dikerogammarus villosus and Orconectes limosus . Biol Invasions 11, 2133–2140 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-009-9492-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-009-9492-6