Friends in Low Places: Responses of a Benthic Stream Fish to Intra-Prey-Guild Alarm Cues

Many aquatic species produce chemical alarm cues that serve as a warning to nearby conspecifics. In mixed‐species aggregations, individuals may also benefit by ‘eavesdropping’ on the chemical alarm cues of other species that are in the same prey guild. Rainbow Darters (Etheostoma caeruleum) are bent...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEthology Vol. 122; no. 12; pp. 954 - 962
Main Authors Anderson, Kelsey A., Mathis, Alicia
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Hamburg Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.12.2016
Subjects
alarm cues
Animal behavior
antipredation
Brachygobius
Caudata
communication
Etheostoma
Etheostoma caeruleum
Eurycea
evolution
Fish
Freshwater
Gambusia affinis
group living
Notropis nubilus
Predation
prey guild
Reptiles & amphibians
USA, Oklahoma
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Summary:Many aquatic species produce chemical alarm cues that serve as a warning to nearby conspecifics. In mixed‐species aggregations, individuals may also benefit by ‘eavesdropping’ on the chemical alarm cues of other species that are in the same prey guild. Rainbow Darters (Etheostoma caeruleum) are benthic fish that co‐occur with native Ozark Minnows (Notropis nubilus), recently introduced Western Mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis), and native Oklahoma Salamanders (Eurycea tyrnerensis), all of whom are vulnerable to the same predators. We tested the responses of darters to the damage‐released alarm cues of conspecifics (positive control), minnows, and mosquitofish; alarm cues from Bumblebee Gobies (Brachygobius doriae) served as a negative (allopatric) control. We also tested the response of sympatric and allopatric darters to the damage‐released alarm cues of Oklahoma Salamander. Darters exhibited a fright response to conspecific and minnow alarm cues, but not to cues from mosquitofish or gobies. Lack of response to mosquitofish cues could be because they are introduced or because they typically occur higher in the water column than darters. Darters that were sympatric with the salamander exhibited a fright response to the alarm cues of the salamander, while allopatric darters did not. Rainbow Darters can develop responses to the alarm cues of syntopic species (minnows and Oklahoma Salamander) within their prey guild.
Bibliography:istex:9C9C83BD97B761679400F43F2512C580EE47450B
ark:/67375/WNG-JMZVT6PT-5
ArticleID:ETH12563
ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0179-1613
1439-0310
DOI:10.1111/eth.12563