Type
Text
Type
Dissertation
Advisor
Nehm, Ross H | Padilla, Dianna K | Lopez, Glenn R | Blakeslee, April M H.
Date
2017-05-01
Keywords
Ecology
Department
Department of Ecology and Evolution
Language
en_US
Source
This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree.
Identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/11401/77386
Publisher
The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.
Format
application/pdf
Abstract
Interactions among species have important influences on the structure and function of the communities in which they reside. Much is known about interactions involving two species, but little is known about the potential synergistic or antagonistic effects when a species is confronted with multiple types of interactions. Organisms may respond to species interactions through phenotypic plasticity, where the same genotype can produce different phenotypes depending on the environment. Many aquatic gastropods are known to have phenotypically plastic behavior and shell morphology in response to two common interactions, parasitism and predation. However, few studies have examined the synergistic effects of both predation and parasitism on gastropod plasticity. This dissertation uses the marine snail Tritia (Ilyanassa) obsoleta to answer the following questions: Do predators and parasites alter the feeding behavior of T. obsoleta? Do parasites alter the antipredator behavior of their gastropod host? Do parasites and predators alter the shell morphology of T. obsoleta? Do juvenile and adult T. obsoleta respond similarly to risk of predation? I found that neither predators nor parasites altered the feeding rates of juvenile or adult T. obsoleta. Adult snails did exhibit antipredator behaviors when exposed to risk of predation, but juvenile snails did not. Generally, parasitized snails exhibited the same antipredator behaviors as unparasitized individuals, but snails infected with certain species of parasites altered their behavior in both the laboratory and in the field. Although snails from different sites had different shell morphologies, long-term exposure to risk of predation did not alter shell morphology, but gastropods infected with certain parasite species did have different shell morphologies than unparasitized snails. There appeared to be no interaction between parasitism and predation with regards to feeding behavior, antipredator behavior, or shell morphology, which was counter to my predictions. The lack of synergism is probably due to few impacts of either predation or parasitism separately on T. obsoleta phenotypes, which is counter to results in other gastropods. Tritia obsoleta exhibits both thick shells and high density population, which both decrease predation risk and may explain lack of its responses to predators. | 189 pages
Recommended Citation
McCarty-Glenn, Mica, "The effect of parasitism and predation on phenotypically plastic traits of the marine gastropod Tritia obsoleta" (2017). Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions). 3205.
https://commons.library.stonybrook.edu/stony-brook-theses-and-dissertations-collection/3205