Thwarting predators? A three-dimensional perspective of morphological alterations in the freshwater crustacean Daphnia.

ABSTRACT: Predation is a major selective agent, so that many taxa evolved phenotypically plastic defensive mechanisms. Among them are many species of the microcrustacean genus Daphnia, which respond to an increased predation risk by developing inducible morphological alterations. Some of these features are obvious and easily recognized, e.g., crests in D. longicephala, while others are rather hidden, such as the bulkier shape of D. magna induced by the presence of the tadpole shrimp Triops. In this study we investigated the extraordinary diversity of morphological adaptations in the presence of predators with different foraging strategies in six predator-prey systems. For the first time we were able to analyze the unexposed and predator-exposed morphs comprehensively using three-dimensional scanning

SUBMITTER: Horstmann M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8263308 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature