Disease avoidance influences shelter use and predation in Caribbean spiny lobster |
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Authors: | Donald C Behringer Mark J Butler IV |
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Institution: | (1) School of Forest Resources and Conservation, Program in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32653, USA;(2) Department of Biological Sciences, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23529, USA |
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Abstract: | Shelter competition is uncommon among social animals, as is the case among normally gregarious Caribbean spiny lobsters (Panulirus argus). However, healthy lobsters avoid sheltering with conspecifics infected by a lethal pathogenic virus, PaV1. These contradictory
behaviors have implications for shelter use and survival, especially in areas where shelter is limited. In laboratory experiments,
we tested shelter competition between paired healthy and diseased juvenile lobsters in shelter-limited mesocosms. Neither
healthy nor diseased lobsters dominated access to shelters, but lobsters shared shelter less often when diseased lobsters
were present relative to controls with two healthy lobsters. We hypothesized that exclusion of juvenile lobsters from shelter
results in increased mortality from predation, especially for the more lethargic, infected individuals. Field tethering trials
revealed that predation was indeed higher on infected individuals and on all tethered lobsters deprived of shelter. We then
tested in mesocosm experiments how the contrasting risks of predation versus infection by a lethal pathogen influence shelter
use. Lobsters were offered a choice of an empty shelter or one containing a diseased lobster in the presence of a predator
(i.e., caged octopus) whose presence normally elicits shelter-seeking behavior, and these data were compared with a previous
study where the predator was absent. Lobsters selected the empty shelter significantly more often despite the threat of predation,
foregoing the protection of group defense in favor of reduced infection risk. These results offer striking evidence of how
pathogenic diseases shape not only the behavior of social animals but also their use of shelters and risk of predation. |
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