The life history, morphological, and behavioral changes of two Arctic daphnids to kairomone from the invertebrate predator Heterocope septentrionalis

"In the Toolik Lake region of arctic Alaska, ponds contain one of two distinct zooplankton communities. Small ponds are typically dominated by Daphnia pulex and medium and large ponds are typically dominated by the larger daphnid, Daphnia middendorffiana. An invertebrate predator, Heterocope se...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Burris, Melinda E., NC DOCKS at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Language:English
Published: 2006
Subjects:
Online Access:http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/f/umi-uncg-1252.pdf
Description
Summary:"In the Toolik Lake region of arctic Alaska, ponds contain one of two distinct zooplankton communities. Small ponds are typically dominated by Daphnia pulex and medium and large ponds are typically dominated by the larger daphnid, Daphnia middendorffiana. An invertebrate predator, Heterocope septentrionalis, exists in the medium and large ponds with D. middendorffiana. D. pulex were exposed to Heterocope kairomone in laboratory and in situ experiments in an effort to explain why these two species do not coexist in nature. An increase in average egg number per brood was observed when D. pulex were exposed to predator kairomone both in laboratory and in situ studies. In laboratory studies, D. pulex increased size at 24 hours old in response to Heterocope kairomone. Behavioral changes, such as an alternation in vertical position, were not observed when D. pulex and D. middendorffiana were exposed to predator kairomones."--Abstract from author supplied metadata.