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Parental and embryonic experiences with predation risk affect prey offspring behaviour and performance
Sarah C Donelan1, Geoffrey C Trussell2
1Marine Science Center, Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences, Northeastern University, 430 Nahant Road, Nahant, MA 01908, USA sarah.donelan@gmail.com.
Proceedings. Biological Sciences
|March 16, 2018
Summary
Parental and embryonic exposure to predation risk independently affects snail offspring traits. Parental risk experience benefits offspring under current risk, while embryonic risk hinders growth without current risk.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Evolutionary Biology
- Behavioral Ecology
Background:
- Phenotypic plasticity is influenced by environmental signals across generations.
- Parental and embryonic exposure to predation risk can shape prey offspring phenotypes.
- The persistence of interactive effects of risk experiences on offspring ontogeny is largely unknown.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the independent and interactive effects of parental and embryonic predation risk on 1-year-old snail offspring.
- To determine how these past risk experiences influence offspring responses to current predation risk.
Main Methods:
- Examined the effects of parental and embryonic predation risk exposure on the carnivorous snail, *Nucella lapillus*.
- Assessed the response of 1-year-old offspring to current predation risk.
- Analyzed offspring performance and growth traits.
Main Results:
- Parental and embryonic risk experiences had largely independent effects on offspring performance, contingent on current risk.
- Parental risk experience significantly improved offspring performance under current predation risk.
- Embryonic risk experience had weaker effects, reducing offspring growth only in the absence of current risk.
Conclusions:
- Past environmental exposures dynamically shape organism phenotypes throughout ontogeny.
- Understanding transgenerational effects of predation risk is crucial for predator-prey dynamics.
- Context-dependent effects of parental and embryonic risk experiences highlight the complexity of phenotypic plasticity.
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