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Habituation of adult sea lamprey repeatedly exposed to damage-released alarm and predator cues

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Abstract

Predation is an unforgiving selective pressure affecting the life history, morphology and behaviour of prey organisms. Selection should favour organisms that have the ability to correctly assess the information content of alarm cues. This study investigated whether adult sea lamprey Petromyzon marinus habituate to conspecific damage-released alarm cues (fresh and decayed sea lamprey extract), a heterospecific damage-released alarm cue (white sucker Catostomus commersonii extract), predator cues (Northern water snake Nerodia sipedon washing, human saliva and 2-phenylethylamine hydrochloride (PEA HCl)) and a conspecific damage-released alarm cue and predator cue combination (fresh sea lamprey extract and human saliva) after they were pre-exposed 4 times or 8 times, respectively, to a given stimulus the previous night. Consistent with our prediction, adult sea lamprey maintained an avoidance response to conspecific damage-released alarm cues (fresh and decayed sea lamprey extract), a predator cue presented at high relative concentration (PEA HCl) and a conspecific damage-released alarm cue and predator cue combination (fresh sea lamprey extract plus human saliva), irrespective of previous exposure level. As expected, adult sea lamprey habituated to a sympatric heterospecific damage-released alarm cue (white sucker extract) and a predator cue presented at lower relative concentration (human saliva). Adult sea lamprey did not show any avoidance of the Northern water snake washing and the Amazon sailfin catfish extract (heterospecific control). This study suggests that conspecific damage-released alarm cues and PEA HCl present the best options as natural repellents in an integrated management program aimed at controlling the abundance of sea lamprey in the Laurentian Great Lakes.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the Hammond Bay Biological Station for their logistical and housing support, especially to M. Hansen and K. Slaght. Special thanks are due to C. Belanger, R. Pietrzakowski and J. Sauvé for assistance with data collection and to M. Wagner, J. Bals and T. Meckley for allowing us to use their video camera and video recording equipment. Thanks are also due to HBBS personnel who donated human saliva for our research. This manuscript was improved by constructive comments from J. Hume. J. Foote provided feed-back on the statistical analyses. This research was supported by grants from the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation and the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council Undergraduate Summer Research Assistant Program. The use of experimental and tissue donor subjects were approved by the Algoma University Animal Care Committee (AUP #: 2012-II-01). This article is contribution number 1943 of the Great Lakes Science Center.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Algoma University, 1520 Queen St. East, Sault Ste. Marie, ON, P6A 2G4, Canada

    I. Imre

  2. Department of Biology, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke St. West, Montréal, Québec, H4B 1R6, Canada

    R. T. Di Rocco & G. E. Brown

  3. United States Geological Survey, Great Lakes Science Center, Hammond Bay Biological Station, 11188 Ray Road, Millersburg, MI, 49759, USA

    N. S. Johnson

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  1. I. Imre
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  2. R. T. Di Rocco
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  3. G. E. Brown
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  4. N. S. Johnson
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Correspondence to I. Imre.

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Imre, I., Di Rocco, R.T., Brown, G.E. et al. Habituation of adult sea lamprey repeatedly exposed to damage-released alarm and predator cues. Environ Biol Fish 99, 613–620 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-016-0503-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-016-0503-z

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