Interactive effects of fish kairomone and light on Daphnia escape behavior

We investigated the effects of fish kairomone and light intensity on the inducibility and effectiveness of escape behavior in four clones of the water flea Daphnia from different habitats. To characterize and determine the effectiveness of their escape responses, individuals were observed: (i) escaping from the hydrodynamic disturbances of a simulated predator (a small sphere dropped from above); (ii) being preyed upon by small fish (Poecelia reticulata); (iii) responding to encounters with conspecifics in crowded conditions. The simulated predation experiments revealed that when exposed to fish kairomone for 48 h, two Daphnia pulicaria clones, but not two hybrid clones, became about twice as sensitive to fluid disturbances when tested in the light, relative to no-kairomone and dark treatments. When tested in the dark, kairomone had no effect on sensitivity in any clone. All four clones had an all-or-none escape response, in which the strength of the response, as measured by escape distance and speed, was constant regardless of treatment. In the guppy predation trials, kairomone-treated D.pulicaria escaped significantly more often from guppies, in both bright- and dim-light conditions. In dim light, similar to natural lighting conditions, regardless of kairomone, all but the most weakly escaping clone were able to elude attacking guppies in a significant proportion of attacks. Finally, kairomone had no effect on the number of escapes performed by crowded individuals in response to the comparatively weak, non-threatening signals created by other Daphnia, indicating that the kairomone-induced alertness in the D.pulicaria clones did not make them 'excessively' sensitive. The results suggest that Daphnia escape behavior is under complex and efficient environmental regulation, and may play a significant role in aquatic trophic relationships.