Invited Review Chemical communication in planktonic animals

Larsson, Petter; Dodson, Stanley I.

doi:10.1127/archiv-hydrobiol/129/1993/129

Cited by 255 publications

(155 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

153

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Especially in the last decade, it has become increasingly clear that chemicals excreted by predators (kairomones) can influence a wide range of characteristics in their prey species. In aquatic environments, predator kairomones have been shown to affect morphology, life-history traits and behaviour of prey species (reviewed by Harvell, 1990;Larsson & Dodson, 1993;Lass & Spaak, 2003). These predator-prey communication links have been found throughout aquatic foodwebs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, in recent years, the phenomenon of predator-induced changes in prey organisms has become a hot topic in research in ecology (Larsson & Dodson, 1993;Tollrian & Harvell, 1999). Especially in the last decade, it has become increasingly clear that chemicals excreted by predators (kairomones) can influence a wide range of characteristics in their prey species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Grazer-induced changes in the desmid Staurastrum

2003

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In aquatic environments, predator kairomones have been shown to affect morphology of prey species. Past work on the interaction between zooplankton and phytoplankton was based mainly on the Daphnia-Scenedesmus model. Algae of the genus Staurastrum can produce mucilage, causing cell clumping and settling out of the water column. These clumps are too large to be eaten by daphniids. Thus, we hypothesised that this may be a grazer defence. We investigated whether Daphnia magna induces the formation of mucus globules in Staurastrum, how this occurs, and if the formation of clumps inhibits growth in juvenile Daphnia. Eight strains of Staurastrum were used to check whether mucus extrusion is induced by the presence of Daphnia or possibly by a chemical excreted by Daphnia magna. None of the strains reacted to the presence of Daphnia water alone, animals had to be present to induce clumping. Mechanical action (gentle stirring) caused the same strains to clump. The ecological relevance of clumping was then investigated. The different Staurastrum strains were used as food in a growth experiment with ecologically relevant densities of neonates of Daphnia hyalina. These small daphniids did not cause the same clumping observed for Daphnia magna when present in experiments at high densities. We observed that juvenile daphniids grew less well on strains with larger cell size.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grazer-induced changes in the desmid Staurastrum

2003

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In this scenario, sex pheromones may enhance mating success by e¡ectively expanding the encounter radius of males for females (Van Leeuwen & Maly 1991; but see Doall et al, this volume). There is strong evidence that some male copepods use water-borne chemical signals to locate females (Katona 1973;Doall et al, this volume;Yen et al, this volume;Weissburg et al, this volume), and cladocerans are known to respond behaviourally to chemical signals from both predators and conspeci¢cs (Larsson & Dodson 1993). However, to date, investigations of Daphnia mating have not revealed whether males are able to exploit chemical signals to increase encounter rates with females, or if they must rely on other modes of mate detection such as mechanoreception or vision.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mating behaviours of Daphnia pulicaria, a cyclic parthenogen: comparisons with copepods

Brewer

1998

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The pre-and post-contact mating behaviours of Daphnia pulicaria are investigated by direct observations of vertical distributions, swimming behaviours and male^female interactions. Analysis of vertical distributions in a 1m deep, thermally strati¢ed migration chamber reveals that females were always located in the upper layer of the water column but males exhibited a bimodal depth distribution, in which an individual's depth was a function of body length and water temperature. The observed distributions of males may be the result of several interacting pressures; predation avoidance, life-history optimization, and avoidance of assortative mating. Male swimming behaviour was faster and orthogonal to that of females, which is in agreement with the predictions of encounter-rate maximization models. Video recordings of males and females interacting in a 1-litre vessel showed that males both pursued and contacted other males more often than females. Thus, there was no evidence that Daphnia are able to use water-borne chemical signals to locate and identify potential mates. However, the average duration of male^female contacts (13.8 s) was much longer than those between males (1.6 s), suggesting that males can determine the sex of contacted individuals.Daphnia mating behaviour is signi¢cantly more complex than previously acknowledged. In contrast to the conventional view of Daphnia males swimming more-or-less randomly and mating with any individual encountered, they exhibit behaviours which increase the potential of mating with females while reducing the risk of predation. Several male behaviours, such as`scanning' and the performance of area-restricted spirals upon encounter, are similar to those reported for some copepods and may be common to zooplankton that lack sophisticated chemosensory abilities. The possibility that Daphnia may also be able to assess such important female attributes as species and reproductive status is discussed.

show abstract

“…These chemical substances are called kairomones because the prey species (the receiver of the kairomone) can benefit by using them to signal information about the presence of the predator (the chemical releaser), whereas the predator receives no benefit (Brown et al 1970). Various vertebrate (fish) and invertebrate (rotifers, copepods, and backswimmer and phantom midge larvae) predators release kairomones, which induce changes in the morphology, life history traits, and behaviour of zooplankton (Larsson & Dodson 1993;Hanazato 1994).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%