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Host selection by larvae of a marine insect Halocladius variabilis: nutritional dependency or escape from predation?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2012

Norah E. Brown ,
Sean C. Mitchell  and
David J. Garbary
Norah E. Brown
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, St Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, B2G 2W5, Canada
Sean C. Mitchell
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, St Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, B2G 2W5, Canada
David J. Garbary*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, St Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, B2G 2W5, Canada
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: D.J. Garbary, Department of Biology, St Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, B2G 2W5, Canada email: dgarbary@gmail.com
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Abstract

Larvae of the Holarctic marine chironomid, Halocladius variabilis (Staeger), have strong fidelity to the tuft-forming brown alga, Elachista fucicola (Velley) Areschoug, an abundant epiphyte on intertidal fucoids of the North Atlantic. We show that larvae are sufficiently motile to select an algal host in a Petri dish within 3–4 cm, and that larvae show differential behaviour with respect to host selection in the presence or absence of a predator. In the absence of predators 53% of larvae found an algal host within 1 hour; however, after 24 hours, there was no significant difference in host selection. When an isopod predator (Idotea sp.) was present, more larvae found a host within 1 hour (81%) and Elachista was chosen over three of the four other hosts. Furthermore, when larvae were present in Elachista, predator (Carcinus maenus) success was significantly reduced relative to two other algal hosts. The adaptive significance of Elachista as a refuge from predation was confirmed by experiments demonstrating that larval growth with other algal hosts was greater than with Elachista. These experiments suggest that microhabitat selection by larvae of H. variabilis reveals important tradeoffs for growth and predator avoidance.

Keywords

algal/insect symbiosisChironomidaeElachista fucicolaHalocladius variabilishost selectionmarine insects
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 93 , Issue 5 , August 2013 , pp. 1373 - 1379
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2012 

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