Universität zu Köln

Arcos, Carlos Sánchez ORCID: 0000-0001-7576-8063, Hill, Yannick, Klintworth, Sandra ORCID: 0000-0002-3275-7628 and von Elert, Eric ORCID: 0000-0001-7758-716X (2025). Algal food identity affects morphological anti‐predatory defense in Daphnia pulex. Limnology and Oceanography, 70 (5). pp. 1109-1121. Wiley. ISSN 0024-3590

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Abstract

Microcrustaceans of the genus Daphnia have evolved various inducible anti‐predator defenses; however, it is largely underexplored how the bottom‐up factor food quality may affect the extent of these defenses. A well‐studied example of an inducible defense is the deployment of neckteeth in Daphnia pulex in response to infochemicals from predatory larvae of Chaoborus , which prey on juvenile instars of Daphnia . In general, vulnerability depends on the body size in the respective juvenile Daphnia instars in relation to the mouth gape diameter of Chaoborus larvae. We hypothesized that algae that prolong the time in which juvenile animals remain in the vulnerable size also increase the predation risk and therefore increase the extent of induced neckteeth. To test this, we supplied three D. pulex genotypes with three food algae and quantified somatic growth rates, time in vulnerable instars, and neckteeth in response to Chaoborus infochemicals. Food algal identity affected the extent of induced neckteeth by up to 66%. However, this effect was not positively related to the time spent in vulnerable instars, indicating that the time that juveniles remain in a vulnerable size is not used to assess predation risk. We demonstrate that food identity may significantly affect the extent of induced neckteeth in D. pulex in a genotype‐dependent way. This strongly suggests that in nature, changing phytoplankton composition may affect the degree of morphological defense and thus constitutes a bottom‐up control of chemical predator–prey communication. This is another example of how environmental factors modulate the temporal dynamics of phenotypic plasticity.

Item Type:	Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Arcos, Carlos Sánchez UNSPECIFIED https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7576-8063 UNSPECIFIED Hill, Yannick UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Klintworth, Sandra UNSPECIFIED https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3275-7628 UNSPECIFIED von Elert, Eric UNSPECIFIED https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7758-716X UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-796807
Identification Number:	10.1002/lno.70018
Journal or Publication Title:	Limnology and Oceanography
Volume:	70
Number:	5
Page Range:	pp. 1109-1121
Number of Pages:	13
Date:	27 May 2025
Publisher:	Wiley
ISSN:	0024-3590
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences
Divisions:	Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences > Department of Biology > Zoologisches Institut
Subjects:	Life sciences
['eprint_fieldname_oa_funders' not defined]:	Publikationsfonds UzK
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/79680