Threat-sensitive learning of predators by larval mosquitoes <Emphasis Type="Italic">Culex restuans</Emphasis> |
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Authors: | Maud C O Ferrari François Messier Douglas P Chivers |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E2, Canada |
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Abstract: | A prerequisite for prey to show adaptive behavioural responses to predators is that the prey has the ability to recognise
predators as threats. While predator recognition can be innate in many situations, learning is often essential. For many aquatic
species, one common way to learn about predators is through the pairing of a novel predator odour with alarm cues released
from injured conspecifics. One study with fish demonstrated that this mode of learning not only allows the prey to recognise
the predatory cues as a threat, but also mediates the level of threat associated with the predator cues (i.e. threat-sensitive
learning). When the prey is exposed to the novel predator with a high concentration of alarm cues, they subsequently show
a high intensity of antipredator response to the predator cues alone. When exposed to the predator with a low concentration
of alarm cues, they subsequently show a low-intensity response to the predator cues. Here, we investigated whether larval
mosquitoes Culex restuans have the ability to learn to recognise salamanders as a threat through a single pairing of alarm cues and salamander odour
and also whether they would learn to respond to salamander cues in a threat-sensitive manner. We conditioned individual mosquitoes
with water or a low, medium or high concentration of crushed conspecific cues (alarm cues) paired with salamander odour. Mosquitoes
exposed to salamander odour paired with alarm cues and subsequently exposed to salamander odour alone responded to the salamander
as a threat. Moreover, the intensity of antipredator response displayed during the conditioning phase matched the response
intensity during the testing phase. This is the first demonstration of threat-sensitive learning in an aquatic invertebrate. |
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Keywords: | Culex restuans Predator cues Threat-sensitive learning Alarm cues Novel predators |
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