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. 2024 Jun 6;14(6):e11422.
doi: 10.1002/ece3.11422. eCollection 2024 Jun.

Morphological and life-history trait plasticity of two Daphnia species induced by fish kairomones

Qide Jin  1 , Yeping Wang  1 , Kun Zhang  1 , Guoqing Li  1 , Yanan Chen  1 , Yujuan Hong  1 , Hanxue Cheng  1 , Daogui Deng  1
Affiliations

Morphological and life-history trait plasticity of two Daphnia species induced by fish kairomones

Qide Jin et al. Ecol Evol. .

Abstract

Daphnia can avoid predation by sensing fish kairomones and producing inducible defenses by altering the phenotype. In this study, the results showed that the morphological and life-history strategies of two Daphnia species (Daphnia pulex and Daphnia sinensis) exposed to Aristichthys nobilis kairomones. In the presence of fish kairomones, the two Daphnia species exhibited significantly smaller body length at maturity, smaller body length of offspring at the 10th instar, and longer relative tail spine of offspring. Nevertheless, other morphological and life-history traits of the two Daphnia species differed. D. pulex showed a significantly longer relative tail spine length and earlier age at maturity after exposure to fish kairomones. The total offspring number of D. sinensis exposed to fish kairomones was significantly higher than that of the control group, whereas that of D. pulex was significantly lower. These results suggest that the two Daphnia species have different inducible defense strategies (e.g., morphological and life-history traits) during prolonged exposure to A. nobilis kairomones, and their offspring also develop morphological defenses to avoid predation. It will provide reference for further exploring the adaptive evolution of Daphnia morphology and life-history traits in the presence of planktivorous fish.

Keywords: Aristichthys nobilis; Daphnia; inducible defenses; kairomone; phenotypic plasticity.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
The photograph of Daphnia pulex female (a) and Daphnia sinensis female (b).
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Body lengths and relative tail spine lengths of the two Daphnia species at different fish kairomone concentrations. Different letters indicate the significant differences (p < .05).
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Growth rates of the two Daphnia species at different fish kairomone concentrations. Different letters indicate the significant differences (p < .05).
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Body lengths and relative tail spine lengths of offspring at two growth stages of the two Daphnia species under different fish kairomone concentrations. Different letters indicate the significant differences (p < .05).
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Ages at maturity of the two Daphnia species at different fish kairomone concentrations. Different letters indicate the significant differences (p < .05).
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 6
Number of eggs and offspring produced by two Daphnia species at different fish kairomone concentrations.
FIGURE 7
FIGURE 7
Intrinsic rate of increase (r) of the two Daphnia species at different fish kairomone concentrations.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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