Trade-offs between defense and competitive traits in a planktonic predator-prey system.

ABSTRACT: Predator-prey interactions are crucial components of populations and communities. Their dynamics depend on the covariation of traits of the interacting organisms, and there is increasing evidence that intraspecific trade-off relationships between defense and competitive traits are important drivers of trophic interactions. However, quantifying the relevant traits forming defense-competitiveness trade-offs and how these traits determine prey and predator fitness remains a major challenge. Here, we conducted feeding and growth experiments to assess multiple traits related to defense and competitiveness in six different strains of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii exposed to predation by the rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus. We found large differences in defense and competitive traits a

SUBMITTER: Reveillon T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11610692 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature