Inducible Defenses with a "Twist": Daphnia barbata Abandons Bilateral Symmetry in Response to an Ancient Predator

PloS One
Quirin HerzogChristian Laforsch

Abstract

Predation is one of the most important drivers of natural selection. In consequence a huge variety of anti-predator defenses have evolved in prey species. Under unpredictable and temporally variable predation pressure, the evolution of phenotypically plastic defensive traits is favored. These "inducible defenses", range from changes in behavior, life history, physiology to morphology and can be found in almost all taxa from bacteria to vertebrates. An important group of model organisms in ecological, evolutionary and environmental research, water fleas of the genus Daphnia (Crustacea: Cladocera), are well known for their ability to respond to predators with an enormous variety of inducible morphological defenses. Here we report on the "twist", a body torsion, as a so far unrecognized inducible morphological defense in Daphnia, expressed by Daphnia barbata exposed to the predatory tadpole shrimp Triops cancriformis. This defense is realized by a twisted carapace with the helmet and the tail spine deviating from the body axis into opposing directions, resulting in a complete abolishment of bilateral symmetry. The twisted morphotype should considerably interfere with the feeding apparatus of the predator, contributing to the effec...Continue Reading

References

Mar 11, 1966·Science·J J Gilbert
Dec 10, 1996·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·A R Palmer
May 17, 2006·Trends in Ecology & Evolution·Benjamin G MinerRick A Relyea
Jan 16, 2009·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Adam PetrusekChristian Laforsch
Feb 5, 2011·Science·Dieter Ebert
Feb 5, 2011·Science·John K ColbourneJeffrey L Boore

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