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Divergent responses in morphology and life history to an Asplanchna kairomone between attached and free-swimming Brachionus dorcas (Rotifera)

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Abstract

In the presence of the predatory rotifer Asplanchna, some Brachionus and Keratella species develop inducible morphological, behavioral, and life history defenses that enable prey to survive predation pressure. However, whether clones belonging to the same rotifer species but with different behaviors (attached and free-swimming) exhibit divergent responses in morphology and life history remains largely unknown. In this study, neonates of an attached and a free-swimming clone of B. dorcas were exposed to media conditioned by A. brightwellii neonates at densities of 0 (control), 40, 80, and 160 ind l−1 for 24 h, and their morphological and life-table demographic parameters were measured and calculated. We showed that the Asplanchna kairomone significantly increased the propensity to attach in the attached clone only, with attached individuals effectively protected from Asplanchna predation. In response to increasing Asplanchna kairomone concentration, the attached clone did not show any morphological changes, but it did exhibit a decreased net reproductive rate and intrinsic rate of population increase. The free-swimming clone developed elongated posterolateral spines and a decreased intrinsic rate of population increase, as well as a decrease in the proportion of sexual offspring. Thus, both clones exhibited reproductive costs.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (31971562, 31470015) and the Foundation of Provincial Key Laboratory of Biotic Environment and Ecological Safety in Anhui Province.

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  1. Collaborative Innovation Center of Recovery and Reconstruction of Degraded Ecosystem in Wanjiang Basin co-funded by Anhui Province and Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, 241000, Anhui Province, China

    Shan Jiang, Yan Bai, Fan Sun, Le-Le Ge & Yi-Long Xi

  2. School of Ecology and Environment, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, 241000, Anhui Province, China

    Yi-Long Xi

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  1. Shan Jiang
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Shan Jiang, Yan Bai, Fan Sun, and Ge Le-Le. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Shan Jiang and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yi-Long Xi.

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The manuscript has not been submitted to more than one journal for simultaneous consideration, or published elsewhere in any form or language (partially or in full). The submitted work is original and presents all results of a single study clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification, or inappropriate data manipulation. All authors adhered to discipline-specific rules for acquiring and processing data. No data, text, or theories by others are presented as if they were the authors’ own. Proper acknowledgements to other works have been given. No material is verbatim copied.

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Jiang, S., Bai, Y., Sun, F. et al. Divergent responses in morphology and life history to an Asplanchna kairomone between attached and free-swimming Brachionus dorcas (Rotifera). Hydrobiologia 848, 1925–1937 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-021-04572-3

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