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McKenzie, D. J., Belao, T. C., Killen, S. S., & Rantin, F. T. (2015). To boldly gulp: standard metabolic rate and boldness have context-dependent influences on risk-taking to breathe air in a catfish. J. Exp. Biol., 218(23), 3762–3770.
Résumé: The African sharptooth catfish Clarias gariepinus has bimodal respiration, it has a suprabranchial air-breathing organ alongside substantial gills. We used automated bimodal respirometry to reveal that undisturbed juvenile catfish (N=29) breathed air continuously in normoxia, with a marked diurnal cycle. Air breathing and routine metabolic rate (RMR) increased in darkness when, in the wild, this nocturnal predator forages. Aquatic hypoxia (20% air saturation) greatly increased overall reliance on air breathing. We investigated whether two measures of risk taking to breathe air, namely absolute rates of aerial O-2 uptake ((M) over dotO(2), air) and the percentage of RMR obtained from air (% (M) over dotO(2), air), were influenced by individual standard metabolic rate (SMR) and boldness. In particular, whether any influence varied with resource availability (normoxia versus hypoxia) or relative fear of predation (day versus night). Individual SMR, derived from respirometry, had an overall positive influence on (M) over dotO(2), air across all contexts but a positive influence on % (M) over dotO(2), air only in hypoxia. Thus, a pervasive effect of SMR on air breathing became most acute in hypoxia, when individuals with higher O-2 demand took proportionally more risks. Boldness was estimated as time required to resume air breathing after a fearful stimulus in daylight normoxia (T-res). Although T-res had no overall influence on (M) over dotO(2), air or % (M) over dotO(2), air, there was a negative relationship between Tres and % (M) over dotO(2), air in daylight, in normoxia and hypoxia. There were two Tres response groups, 'bold' phenotypes with Tres below 75 min (N= 13) which, in daylight, breathed proportionally more air than 'shy' phenotypes with Tres above 115 min (N= 16). Therefore, individual boldness influenced air breathing when fear of predation was high. Thus, individual energy demand and personality did not have parallel influences on the emergent tendency to take risks to obtain a resource; their influences varied in strength with context.
Mots-Clés: african catfish; animal personality; Bimodal respiration; clarias-gariepinus; ecological consequences; Energy metabolism; european sea bass; Hypoxia; individual variation; oncorhynchus-mykiss; Personality; personality-traits; predation risk; Respiratory partitioning; Risk-taking; wild-type zebrafish
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van Gils, J. A., van der Geest, M., Jansen, E. J., Govers, L. L., de Fouw, J., & Piersma, T. (2012). Trophic cascade induced by molluscivore predator alters pore-water biogeochemistry via competitive release of prey. Ecology, 93, 1143–1152.
Résumé: Effects of predation may cascade down the food web. By alleviating interspecific competition among prey, predators may promote biodiversity, but the precise mechanisms of how predators alter competition have remained elusive. Here we report on a predator-exclosure experiment carried out in a tropical intertidal ecosystem, providing evidence for a three-level trophic cascade induced by predation by molluscivore Red Knots (Calidris canutus) that affects pore water biogeochemistry. In the exclosures the knots' favorite prey (Dosinia isocardia) became dominant and reduced the individual growth rate in an alternative prey (Loripes lucinalis). Dosinia, a suspension feeder, consumes suspended particulate organic matter (POM), whereas Loripes is a facultative mixotroph, partly living on metabolites produced by sulfur-oxidizing chemoautotrophic bacteria, but also consuming suspended POM. Reduced sulfide concentrations in the exclosures suggest that, without predation on Dosinia, stronger competition for suspended POM forces Loripes to rely on energy produced by endosymbiotic bacteria, thus leading to an enhanced uptake of sulfide from the surrounding pore water. As sulfide is toxic to most organisms, this competition-induced diet shift by Loripes may detoxify the environment, which in turn may facilitate other species. The inference that predators affect the toxicity of their environment via a multi-level trophic cascade is novel, but we believe it may be a general phenomenon in detritus-based ecosystems.
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