Predatory blue crabs induce stronger nonconsumptive effects in eastern oystersCrassostrea virginicathan scavenging blue crabs

By influencing critical prey traits such as foraging or habitat selection, predators can affect entire ecosystems, but the nature of cues that trigger prey reactions to predators are not well understood. Predators may scavenge to supplement their energetic needs and scavenging frequency may vary among individuals within a species due to preferences and prey availability. Yet prey reactions to consumers that are primarily scavengers versus those that are active foragers have not been investigated, even though variation in prey reactions to scavengers or predators might influence cascading nonconsumptive effects in food webs. OystersCrassostrea virginicareact to crab predators by growing stronger shells. We exposed oysters to exudates from crabs fed live oysters or fed aged oyster tissue to simulate scavenging, and to controls without crab cues. Oysters grew stronger shells when exposed to either crab exudate, but their shells were significantly stronger when crabs were fed live oysters. The stronger response to predators than scavengers could be due to inherent differences in diet cues representative of reduced risk in the presence of scavengers or to degradation of conspecific alarm cues in aged treatments, which may mask risk from potential predators subsisting by scavenging.

Can native species crucian carp Carassius auratus recognizes the introduced red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii?

Procambarus clarkii is native to the south-central United States (Louisiana) and northeastern Mexico, and is a highly efficient predator that poses a damager to native species after its introduction or invasion. In its natural habitat, P. clarkii consumes Carassius auratus, however, whether C. auratus recognizes P. clarkii as a predator is not yet clear. In laboratory experiments, we investigated whether experienced and inexperienced C. auratus recognize P. clarkii as a predatory threat and the specific sensory modality used by C. auratus to respond to chemical and visual stimuli from P. clarkii. In the chemical stimuli experiment, two kinds of chemical stimuli were used, water from a tub containing P. clarkii previously fed with C. auratus (C. auratus diet cues) and water from a tub containing unfed P. clarkii (P. clarkii cues). In the visual experiment, experienced C. auratus decreased activity, but inexperienced C.auratus avoided the predator compartment. When C. auratus diet cues were presented, both experienced and inexperienced C. auratus increased the use of shelter, decreased activity in the initial response phase. Compared with the blank treatment, experienced C. auratus responded to P. clarkii cues by decreasing activity; however, inexperienced C. auratus showed no reduction in activity. C. auratus appears to recognize P. clarkii as a predator both through visual and chemical cues. Further analysis revealed that C. auratus may recognize P. clarkii visually through the disturbances caused by P. clarkii movement and chemically by detecting conspecific alarm cues in the diet of P. clarkii. The results also indicate that experienced C. auratus can recognize P. clarkii by innate chemical cues from P. clarkii, whereas inexperienced C. auratus cannot.

Chemical ecology of predator–prey interactions in aquatic ecosystems: a review and prospectusThe present review is one in the special series of reviews on animal–plant interactions.

The interaction between predator and prey is an evolutionary arms race, for which early detection by either party is often the key to success. In aquatic ecosystems, olfaction is an essential source of information for many prey and predators and a number of cues have been shown to play a key role in trait-mediated indirect interactions in aquatic communities. Here, we review the nature and role of predator kairomones, chemical alarm cues, disturbance cues, and diet cues on the behaviour, morphology, life history, and survival of aquatic prey, focusing primarily on the discoveries from the last decade. Many advances in the field have been accomplished: testing the survival value of those chemicals, providing field validation of laboratory results, understanding the extent to which chemically mediated learning may benefit the prey, understanding the role of these chemicals in mediating morphological and life-history adaptations, and most importantly, the selection pressures leading to the evolution of chemical alarm cues. Although considerable advances have been made, several key questions remain, the most urgent of which is to understand the chemistry behind these interactions.