Ontogenetic habitat shift of an herbivorous crab: a chemically mediated defense mechanism?

Many herbivores specialize on a specific type of host that can serve both as food and shelter. Such associations, however, do not necessarily last throughout the ontogeny of the herbivore. For example, in field surveys a close association between the herbivorous crab Taliepus dentatus and brown alga...

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Autores principales:	Palma,Alvaro T, Soto-Gamboa,Mauricio, Ojeda,F. Patricio
Lenguaje:	English
Publicado:	Universidad de Valparaíso. Facultad de Ciencias del Mar 2011
Materias:	Secondary metabolites Taliepus dentatus Glossophora kunthii Lessonia trabeculata
Acceso en línea:	http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0718-19572011000300004
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spelling	oai:scielo:S0718-195720110003000042012-05-10Ontogenetic habitat shift of an herbivorous crab: a chemically mediated defense mechanism?Palma,Alvaro TSoto-Gamboa,MauricioOjeda,F. Patricio Secondary metabolites Taliepus dentatus Glossophora kunthii Lessonia trabeculata Many herbivores specialize on a specific type of host that can serve both as food and shelter. Such associations, however, do not necessarily last throughout the ontogeny of the herbivore. For example, in field surveys a close association between the herbivorous crab Taliepus dentatus and brown algae has been found. However, newly settled and juvenile individuals were only found on patches of the brown algae Glossophora kunthii, while older individuals of the population were most frequently found living on the common brown kelp Lessonia trabeculata. Our field and laboratory experiments showed that different size classes of this crab species may actively select these algal habitats, and that these preferences are even more conspicuous for small newly settled individuals. Bioassay experiments showed that fish specifically avoided either T. dentatus or G. kunthii, which suggests that consumption of this alga by T. dentatus could decrease their natural rates of mortality due to fish predation. These results were further corroborated through field tethering experiments, where individuals of this species exhibited high survivorship regardless of the surrounding substrate on which they were placed. In this study, we speculate that incorporation of anti-predator defenses from algae may then enhance the survivorship of juveniles, thus, deterring consumers like carnivorous fish common in these environments. Although less threatened, because they are too large to be consumed by predatory fish, older individuals might also benefit from living on L. trabeculata, which is rich in secondary metabolites.info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessUniversidad de Valparaíso. Facultad de Ciencias del MarRevista de biología marina y oceanografía v.46 n.3 20112011-12-01text/htmlhttp://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0718-19572011000300004en10.4067/S0718-19572011000300004
institution	Scielo Chile
collection	Scielo Chile
language	English
topic	Secondary metabolites Taliepus dentatus Glossophora kunthii Lessonia trabeculata
spellingShingle	Secondary metabolites Taliepus dentatus Glossophora kunthii Lessonia trabeculata Palma,Alvaro T Soto-Gamboa,Mauricio Ojeda,F. Patricio Ontogenetic habitat shift of an herbivorous crab: a chemically mediated defense mechanism?
description	Many herbivores specialize on a specific type of host that can serve both as food and shelter. Such associations, however, do not necessarily last throughout the ontogeny of the herbivore. For example, in field surveys a close association between the herbivorous crab Taliepus dentatus and brown algae has been found. However, newly settled and juvenile individuals were only found on patches of the brown algae Glossophora kunthii, while older individuals of the population were most frequently found living on the common brown kelp Lessonia trabeculata. Our field and laboratory experiments showed that different size classes of this crab species may actively select these algal habitats, and that these preferences are even more conspicuous for small newly settled individuals. Bioassay experiments showed that fish specifically avoided either T. dentatus or G. kunthii, which suggests that consumption of this alga by T. dentatus could decrease their natural rates of mortality due to fish predation. These results were further corroborated through field tethering experiments, where individuals of this species exhibited high survivorship regardless of the surrounding substrate on which they were placed. In this study, we speculate that incorporation of anti-predator defenses from algae may then enhance the survivorship of juveniles, thus, deterring consumers like carnivorous fish common in these environments. Although less threatened, because they are too large to be consumed by predatory fish, older individuals might also benefit from living on L. trabeculata, which is rich in secondary metabolites.
author	Palma,Alvaro T Soto-Gamboa,Mauricio Ojeda,F. Patricio
author_facet	Palma,Alvaro T Soto-Gamboa,Mauricio Ojeda,F. Patricio
author_sort	Palma,Alvaro T
title	Ontogenetic habitat shift of an herbivorous crab: a chemically mediated defense mechanism?
title_short	Ontogenetic habitat shift of an herbivorous crab: a chemically mediated defense mechanism?
title_full	Ontogenetic habitat shift of an herbivorous crab: a chemically mediated defense mechanism?
title_fullStr	Ontogenetic habitat shift of an herbivorous crab: a chemically mediated defense mechanism?
title_full_unstemmed	Ontogenetic habitat shift of an herbivorous crab: a chemically mediated defense mechanism?
title_sort	ontogenetic habitat shift of an herbivorous crab: a chemically mediated defense mechanism?
publisher	Universidad de Valparaíso. Facultad de Ciencias del Mar
publishDate	2011
url	http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0718-19572011000300004
work_keys_str_mv	AT palmaalvarot ontogenetichabitatshiftofanherbivorouscrabachemicallymediateddefensemechanism AT sotogamboamauricio ontogenetichabitatshiftofanherbivorouscrabachemicallymediateddefensemechanism AT ojedafpatricio ontogenetichabitatshiftofanherbivorouscrabachemicallymediateddefensemechanism
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Ontogenetic habitat shift of an herbivorous crab: a chemically mediated defense mechanism?

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