Inducible Morphological Defenses in Hooked Mussels, Ischadium recurvum: Response to Native and Non-native Crab Predators
Loading...
Links to Files
Permanent Link
Author/Creator
Author/Creator ORCID
Date
2014-09
Department
Hood College Biology
Program
Biomedical and Environmental Science
Citation of Original Publication
Rights
Subjects
Abstract
Inducible morphological defenses can be an important factor in predator prey
interactions. While Hooked mussels, Ischadium recurvum, have been shown to exhibit
inducible defenses in response to predators within their range, the ability of Hooked
mussels to mount a defense against non-native predators has not been explored. In order
to investigate the ability of Hooked mussels to mount an inducible defense response to
novel predators, Hooked mussels were exposed (for two months) to the constant effluent
of the native Blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, the non-native Green crab, Carcinus
maenus, and were compared to mussels that were not exposed to any crab effluent.
Mussels exposed to Blue crab effluent produced significantly (p < 0.05) more byssal
threads compared to both Green crab exposed and control mussels. Green crab exposed
and control mussels showed no differences in byssal thread production (p > 0.05). The
lack of an inducible response in Green-crab exposed mussels suggests that crab induced
byssal thread production is specific to native crab predators as well as the fact that
Hooked mussels are incapable of recognizing novel predators by their effluent alone.