Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Induced tolerance expressed as relaxed behavioural threat response in millimetre-sized aquatic organisms.

Hylander, Samuel ; Ekvall, Mikael LU ; Bianco, Giuseppe LU orcid ; Yang, Xiuhong LU and Hansson, Lars-Anders LU orcid (2014) In Royal Society of London. Proceedings B. Biological Sciences 281(1788).
Abstract
Natural selection shapes behaviour in all organisms, but this is difficult to study in small, millimetre-sized, organisms. With novel labelling and tracking techniques, based on nanotechnology, we here show how behaviour in zooplankton (Daphnia magna) is affected by size, morphology and previous exposure to detrimental ultraviolet radiation (UVR). All individuals responded with immediate downward swimming to UVR exposure, but when released from the threat they rapidly returned to the surface. Large individuals swam faster and generally travelled longer distances than small individuals. Interestingly, individuals previously exposed to UVR (during several generations) showed a more relaxed response to UVR and travelled shorter total... (More)
Natural selection shapes behaviour in all organisms, but this is difficult to study in small, millimetre-sized, organisms. With novel labelling and tracking techniques, based on nanotechnology, we here show how behaviour in zooplankton (Daphnia magna) is affected by size, morphology and previous exposure to detrimental ultraviolet radiation (UVR). All individuals responded with immediate downward swimming to UVR exposure, but when released from the threat they rapidly returned to the surface. Large individuals swam faster and generally travelled longer distances than small individuals. Interestingly, individuals previously exposed to UVR (during several generations) showed a more relaxed response to UVR and travelled shorter total distances than those that were naive to UVR, suggesting induced tolerance to the threat. In addition, animals previously exposed to UVR also had smaller eyes than the naive ones, whereas UVR-protective melanin pigmentation of the animals was similar between populations. Finally, we show that smaller individuals have lower capacity to avoid UVR which could explain patterns in natural systems of lower migration amplitudes in small individuals. The ability to change behavioural patterns in response to a threat, in this case UVR, adds to our understanding of how organisms navigate in the 'landscape of fear', and this has important implications for individual fitness and for interaction strengths in biotic interactions. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Royal Society of London. Proceedings B. Biological Sciences
volume
281
issue
1788
article number
20140364
publisher
Royal Society Publishing
external identifiers
  • pmid:24966309
  • wos:000338637600006
  • scopus:84922548808
ISSN
1471-2954
DOI
10.1098/rspb.2014.0364
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
7c062a22-3ff3-4139-9211-25523350724b (old id 4526742)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:39:57
date last changed
2022-01-26 01:18:55
@article{7c062a22-3ff3-4139-9211-25523350724b,
  abstract     = {{Natural selection shapes behaviour in all organisms, but this is difficult to study in small, millimetre-sized, organisms. With novel labelling and tracking techniques, based on nanotechnology, we here show how behaviour in zooplankton (Daphnia magna) is affected by size, morphology and previous exposure to detrimental ultraviolet radiation (UVR). All individuals responded with immediate downward swimming to UVR exposure, but when released from the threat they rapidly returned to the surface. Large individuals swam faster and generally travelled longer distances than small individuals. Interestingly, individuals previously exposed to UVR (during several generations) showed a more relaxed response to UVR and travelled shorter total distances than those that were naive to UVR, suggesting induced tolerance to the threat. In addition, animals previously exposed to UVR also had smaller eyes than the naive ones, whereas UVR-protective melanin pigmentation of the animals was similar between populations. Finally, we show that smaller individuals have lower capacity to avoid UVR which could explain patterns in natural systems of lower migration amplitudes in small individuals. The ability to change behavioural patterns in response to a threat, in this case UVR, adds to our understanding of how organisms navigate in the 'landscape of fear', and this has important implications for individual fitness and for interaction strengths in biotic interactions.}},
  author       = {{Hylander, Samuel and Ekvall, Mikael and Bianco, Giuseppe and Yang, Xiuhong and Hansson, Lars-Anders}},
  issn         = {{1471-2954}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1788}},
  publisher    = {{Royal Society Publishing}},
  series       = {{Royal Society of London. Proceedings B. Biological Sciences}},
  title        = {{Induced tolerance expressed as relaxed behavioural threat response in millimetre-sized aquatic organisms.}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.0364}},
  doi          = {{10.1098/rspb.2014.0364}},
  volume       = {{281}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}