Thwarting predators?
- Predation is a major selective agent, so that many taxa evolved phenotypically plastic defensive mechanisms. Among them are many species of the microcrustacean genus \(\it Daphnia\), which respond to an increased predation risk by developing inducible morphological alterations. Some of these features are obvious and easily recognized, e.g., crests in \(\textit {D. longicephala}\), while others are rather hidden, such as the bulkier shape of \(\textit {D. magna}\) induced by the presence of the tadpole shrimp \(\it Triops\). In this study we investigated the extraordinary diversity of morphological adaptations in the presence of predators with different foraging strategies in six predator-prey systems. For the first time we were able to analyze the unexposed and predator-exposed morphs comprehensively using three-dimensional scanning and reconstruction. We show that morphological changes are manifold in appearance between species and predators, and go beyond what has been known from previous 2D analyses. This further demonstrates the enormous trait flexibility of \(\it Daphnia\). Interestingly, we found that among this variety some species share morphological strategies to counter a predator, while others use a different strategy against the same predator. Based on these intra- and interspecific comparisons, we discuss the mechanisms by which the respective defense might operate. These data therefore contribute to a deeper understanding of the inducible defenses’ morphology as well as their diversified modes of operation in Daphnia, being a cornerstone for subsequent investigations, including the determination of costs associated with morphological change.
Author: | Martin HorstmannORCiDGND, Ralph TollrianORCiDGND, Linda C. WeissORCiDGND |
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URN: | urn:nbn:de:hbz:294-91648 |
DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254263 |
Parent Title (English): | PLoS ONE |
Subtitle (German): | A three-dimensional perspective of morphological alterations in the freshwater crustacean \(\it Daphnia\) |
Publisher: | Public Library of Science |
Place of publication: | San Francisco |
Document Type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Date of Publication (online): | 2022/07/28 |
Date of first Publication: | 2021/07/07 |
Publishing Institution: | Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsbibliothek |
Tag: | Open Access Fonds |
Volume: | 16 |
Issue: | 7, Artikel e0254263 |
First Page: | e0254263-1 |
Last Page: | e0254263-23 |
Note: | Article Processing Charge funded by the Open Access Publication Fund of Ruhr-Universität Bochum. |
Institutes/Facilities: | Lehrstuhl für Evolutionsökologie und Biodiversität der Tiere |
Dewey Decimal Classification: | Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / Biowissenschaften, Biologie, Biochemie |
open_access (DINI-Set): | open_access |
faculties: | Fakultät für Biologie und Biotechnologie |
Licence (English): | Creative Commons - CC BY 4.0 - Attribution 4.0 International |