Predator-induced defence in a dinoflagellate generates benefits without direct costs.

ABSTRACT: Inducible defences in phytoplankton are often assumed to come at a cost to the organism, but trade-offs have proven hard to establish experimentally. A reason for this may be that some trade-off costs only become evident under resource-limiting conditions. To explore the effect of nutrient limitation on trade-offs in toxin-producing dinoflagellates, we induced toxin production in Alexandrium minutum by chemical cues from copepods under different levels of nitrogen limitation. The effects were both nitrogen- and grazer-concentration dependent. Induced cells had higher cellular toxin content and a larger fraction of the cells was rejected by a copepod, demonstrating the clear benefits of toxin production. Induced cells also had a higher carbon and nitrogen content, despite up to 25% reductio

SUBMITTER: Ryderheim F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8245491 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature