Dataset Information

Smelling danger - alarm cue responses in the polychaete Nereis (Hediste) diversicolor (Muller, 1776) to potential fish predation.

ABSTRACT: The harbour ragworm, Nereis (Hediste) diversicolor is a common intertidal marine polychaete that lives in burrows from which it has to partially emerge in order to forage. In doing so, it is exposed to a variety of predators. One way in which predation risk can be minimised is through chemical detection from within the relative safety of the burrows. Using CCTV and motion capture software, we show that H. diversicolor is able to detect chemical cues associated with the presence of juvenile flounder (Platichthys flesus). Number of emergences, emergence duration and distance from burrow entrance are all significantly reduced during exposure to flounder conditioned seawater and flounder mucous spiked seawater above a threshold with no evidence of behavioural habituation. Mucous from bottom-dwelling juvenile plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) and pelagic adult herring (Clupea harengus) elicit similar responses, suggesting that the behavioural reactions are species independent. The data implies that H. diversicolor must have well developed chemosensory mechanisms for predator detection and is consequently able to effectively minimize risk.

SUBMITTER: Schaum CE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3796461 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Smelling danger - alarm cue responses in the polychaete Nereis (Hediste) diversicolor (Müller, 1776) to potential fish predation.

Schaum C Elisa CE Batty Robert R Last Kim S KS

PloS one 20131014 10

The harbour ragworm, Nereis (Hediste) diversicolor is a common intertidal marine polychaete that lives in burrows from which it has to partially emerge in order to forage. In doing so, it is exposed to a variety of predators. One way in which predation risk can be minimised is through chemical detection from within the relative safety of the burrows. Using CCTV and motion capture software, we show that H. diversicolor is able to detect chemical cues associated with the presence of juvenile floun ...[more]

PMID: 24155953

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Project description:Considering the ecological importance and potential value of Hediste diversicolor, a better understanding of its metabolic rate and potential growth rates is required. The aims of this study are: (i) to describe key biometric relationships; (ii) to test the effects of temperature and body size on standard metabolic rate (as measure by oxygen consumption) to determine critical parameters, namely Arrhenius temperature (TA ), allometric coefficient (b) and reaction rate; and (iii) to determine the metabolic scope for activity (MSA) of H. diversicolor for further comparison with published specific growth rates. Individuals were collected in a Mediterranean lagoon (France). After 10 days of acclimatization, 7 days at a fixed temperature and 24 h of fasting, resting oxygen consumption rates (VO2 ) were individually measured in the dark at four different temperatures (11, 17, 22 and 27 °C) in worms weighing from 4 to 94 mgDW (n = 27 per temperature). Results showed that DW and L3 were the most accurate measurements of weight and length, respectively, among all the metrics tested. Conversion of WW (mg), DW (mg) and L3 (mm) were quantified with the following equations: DW = 0.15 × WW, L3 = 0.025 × TL(mm) + 1.44 and DW = 0.8 × L33.68. Using an equation based on temperature and allometric effects, the allometric coefficient (b) was estimated at 0.8 for DW and at 2.83 for L3. The reaction rate (VO2 ) equaled to 12.33 µmol gDW-1 h-1 and 0.05 µmol mm L3-1 h-1 at the reference temperature (20 °C, 293.15 K). Arrhenius temperature (TA ) was 5,707 and 5,664 K (for DW and L3, respectively). Metabolic scope for activity ranged from 120.1 to 627.6 J gDW-1 d-1. Predicted maximum growth rate increased with temperature, with expected values of 7-10% in the range of 15-20 °C. MSA was then used to evaluate specific growth rates (SGR) in several experiments. This paper may be used as a reference and could have interesting applications in the fields of aquaculture, ecology and biogeochemical processes.

Project description:BackgroundTranscription factors that encode ANTP-class homeobox genes play crucial roles in determining the body plan organization and specification of different organs and tissues in bilaterian animals. The three-gene ParaHox family descends from an ancestral gene cluster that existed before the evolution of the Bilateria. All three ParaHox genes are reported from deuterostomes and lophotrochozoans, but not to date from any ecdysozoan taxa, and there is evidence that the ParaHox genes, like the related Hox genes, were ancestrally a single chromosomal cluster. However, unlike the Hox genes, there is as yet no strong evidence that the ParaHox genes are expressed in spatial and temporal order during embryogenesis.ResultsWe isolated fragments of the three Nereis virens ParaHox genes, then used these as probes for whole-mount in situ hybridization in larval and postlarval worms. In Nereis virens the ParaHox genes participate in antero-posterior patterning of ectodermal and endodermal regions of the digestive tract and are expressed in some cells in the segment ganglia. The expression of these genes occurs in larval development in accordance with the position of these cells along the main body axis and in postlarval development in accordance with the position of cells in ganglia along the antero-posterior axis of each segment. In none of these tissues does expression of the three ParaHox genes follow the rule of temporal collinearity.ConclusionIn Nereis virens the ParaHox genes are expressed during antero-posterior patterning of the digestive system (ectodermal foregut and hindgut, and endodermal midgut) of Nereis virens. These genes are also expressed during axial specification of ventral neuroectodermal cell domains, where the expression domains of each gene are re-iterated in each neuromere except for the first parapodial segment. These expression domains are probably predetermined and may be directed on the antero-posterior axis by the Hox genes, whose expression starts much earlier during embryogenesis. Our results support the hypothesis that the ParaHox genes are involved in antero-posterior patterning of the developing embryo, but they do not support the notion that these genes function only in the patterning of endodermal tissues.

Dataset Information

Smelling danger - alarm cue responses in the polychaete Nereis (Hediste) diversicolor (Muller, 1776) to potential fish predation.

Publications

Smelling danger - alarm cue responses in the polychaete Nereis (Hediste) diversicolor (Müller, 1776) to potential fish predation.

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