Host selection by larvae of a marine insect Halocladius variabilis : nutritional dependency or escape from predation?
Larvae of the Holarctic marine chironomid, Halocladius variabilis (Staeger), have strong fidelity to the tuft-forming brown alga, Elachista fucicola (Velley) Areschoug, an abundant epiphyte on intertidal fucoids of the North Atlantic. We show that larvae are sufficiently motile to select an algal ho...
Published in: | Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom |
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2012
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0025315412001634 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0025315412001634 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0025315412001634 2024-03-03T08:47:06+00:00 Host selection by larvae of a marine insect Halocladius variabilis : nutritional dependency or escape from predation? Brown, Norah E. Mitchell, Sean C. Garbary, David J. 2012 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0025315412001634 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0025315412001634 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom volume 93, issue 5, page 1373-1379 ISSN 0025-3154 1469-7769 Aquatic Science journal-article 2012 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0025315412001634 2024-02-08T08:46:37Z Larvae of the Holarctic marine chironomid, Halocladius variabilis (Staeger), have strong fidelity to the tuft-forming brown alga, Elachista fucicola (Velley) Areschoug, an abundant epiphyte on intertidal fucoids of the North Atlantic. We show that larvae are sufficiently motile to select an algal host in a Petri dish within 3–4 cm, and that larvae show differential behaviour with respect to host selection in the presence or absence of a predator. In the absence of predators 53% of larvae found an algal host within 1 hour; however, after 24 hours, there was no significant difference in host selection. When an isopod predator ( Idotea sp.) was present, more larvae found a host within 1 hour (81%) and Elachista was chosen over three of the four other hosts. Furthermore, when larvae were present in Elachista , predator ( Carcinus maenus ) success was significantly reduced relative to two other algal hosts. The adaptive significance of Elachista as a refuge from predation was confirmed by experiments demonstrating that larval growth with other algal hosts was greater than with Elachista . These experiments suggest that microhabitat selection by larvae of H. variabilis reveals important tradeoffs for growth and predator avoidance. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Cambridge University Press Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 93 5 1373 1379 |
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Cambridge University Press |
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language |
English |
topic |
Aquatic Science |
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Aquatic Science Brown, Norah E. Mitchell, Sean C. Garbary, David J. Host selection by larvae of a marine insect Halocladius variabilis : nutritional dependency or escape from predation? |
topic_facet |
Aquatic Science |
description |
Larvae of the Holarctic marine chironomid, Halocladius variabilis (Staeger), have strong fidelity to the tuft-forming brown alga, Elachista fucicola (Velley) Areschoug, an abundant epiphyte on intertidal fucoids of the North Atlantic. We show that larvae are sufficiently motile to select an algal host in a Petri dish within 3–4 cm, and that larvae show differential behaviour with respect to host selection in the presence or absence of a predator. In the absence of predators 53% of larvae found an algal host within 1 hour; however, after 24 hours, there was no significant difference in host selection. When an isopod predator ( Idotea sp.) was present, more larvae found a host within 1 hour (81%) and Elachista was chosen over three of the four other hosts. Furthermore, when larvae were present in Elachista , predator ( Carcinus maenus ) success was significantly reduced relative to two other algal hosts. The adaptive significance of Elachista as a refuge from predation was confirmed by experiments demonstrating that larval growth with other algal hosts was greater than with Elachista . These experiments suggest that microhabitat selection by larvae of H. variabilis reveals important tradeoffs for growth and predator avoidance. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Brown, Norah E. Mitchell, Sean C. Garbary, David J. |
author_facet |
Brown, Norah E. Mitchell, Sean C. Garbary, David J. |
author_sort |
Brown, Norah E. |
title |
Host selection by larvae of a marine insect Halocladius variabilis : nutritional dependency or escape from predation? |
title_short |
Host selection by larvae of a marine insect Halocladius variabilis : nutritional dependency or escape from predation? |
title_full |
Host selection by larvae of a marine insect Halocladius variabilis : nutritional dependency or escape from predation? |
title_fullStr |
Host selection by larvae of a marine insect Halocladius variabilis : nutritional dependency or escape from predation? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Host selection by larvae of a marine insect Halocladius variabilis : nutritional dependency or escape from predation? |
title_sort |
host selection by larvae of a marine insect halocladius variabilis : nutritional dependency or escape from predation? |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0025315412001634 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0025315412001634 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom volume 93, issue 5, page 1373-1379 ISSN 0025-3154 1469-7769 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0025315412001634 |
container_title |
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom |
container_volume |
93 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
1373 |
op_container_end_page |
1379 |
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1792503236811292672 |