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Damage released prey alarm substances or predator odours? Risk assessment by an aquatic oligochaete

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Abstract

Although the abilities of prey to detect and respond to chemical substances associated with a predator have been widely reported, the factors promoting the evolution of responses to prey alarm cues vs. predator odours are still vague. In this article, we combined field research with laboratory experiments to explore which chemical substance associated with predator activity (predator odour, conspecific or heterospecific alarm substances) induces defence responses in the aquatic oligochaete Stylaria lacustris, which is vulnerable to common littoral predators. The field results indicated that predators injure the oligochaetes and a great proportion, up to 45% of individuals in the population, were found to be damaged. The results of the laboratory experiments revealed that chemical odours from damselfly larvae feeding on S. lacustris did not induce the defence response in the oligochaetes. On the contrary, oligochaetes detected and responded to alarm substances from damaged conspecifics alone and substances from damaged cladoceran Daphnia magna. We discussed conditions favouring the responses to damage released prey alarm cues instead of predator odours in Stylaria lacustris. Our data suggest that the selection of responses to alarm cues from damaged prey vs. predator odours may be dependent on three factors: (1) non-species-specific predation, (2) divergence of food niche of the different stages of the predator and (3) complex food web with multiple predators.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by a State Committee for Scientific Research Doctoral Dissertation Grant 3P04F06425. The experiments included in our research comply with the current laws of Poland.

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  1. Centre for Ecological Research, Polish Academy of Sciences, 05-092, Lomianki, Poland

    Anita Kaliszewicz & Janusz Uchmański

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  1. Anita Kaliszewicz
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  2. Janusz Uchmański
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Correspondence to Anita Kaliszewicz.

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Handling editor: S. Declerk

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Kaliszewicz, A., Uchmański, J. Damage released prey alarm substances or predator odours? Risk assessment by an aquatic oligochaete. Hydrobiologia 618, 57–64 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-008-9547-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-008-9547-1

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