Behavioral and mechanistic characteristics of the predator-prey interaction between the dinoflagellate Dinophysis acuminata and the ciliate Mesodinium rubrum.

ABSTRACT: Predator-prey interactions of planktonic protists are fundamental to plankton dynamics and include prey selection, detection, and capture as well as predator detection and avoidance. Propulsive, morphology-specific behaviors modulate these interactions and therefore bloom dynamics. Here, interactions between the mixotrophic, harmful algal bloom (HAB) dinoflagellate Dinophysis acuminata and its ciliate prey Mesodinium rubrum were investigated through quantitative microvideography using a high-speed microscale imaging system (HSMIS). The dinoflagellate D. acuminata is shown to detect its M. rubrum prey via chemoreception while M. rubrum is alerted to D. acuminata via mechanoreception at much shorter distances (89 ± 39 μm versus 41 ± 32 μm). On detection, D. acuminata approaches M. rubrum wit

SUBMITTER: Jiang H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6089243 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature