Anti-predatory and foraging behaviors of whelks from laboratory experiments at Bodega Marine Laboratory in 2017

To investigate anti-predatory and foraging behaviors of whelks, we conducted laboratory experiments at Bodega Marine Laboratory in 2017 to test whether previous predator exposure had a sustained effect on prey foraging and in turn on a basal resource, even after the predator was removed. We tested for both behavioral and morphological legacies of prior predation. The study system consisted of a tri-trophic food chain, using the red rock crab, Cancer productus, as the predator, the carnivorous whelk, Nucella ostrina, as the prey species, and the California mussel, Mytilus californianus, as the basal resource.

为探究峨螺（whelks）的反捕食行为与觅食行为，我们于2017年在博德加海洋实验室（Bodega Marine Laboratory）开展室内受控实验，以验证此前的捕食者暴露经历是否会在捕食者被移除后，仍对猎物的觅食行为产生持续影响，并进而作用于基底资源。本研究同时检验了前期捕食事件所遗留的行为与形态效应。本实验系统为三营养级食物链（tri-trophic food chain），以红岩蟹（red rock crab, Cancer productus）作为捕食者、肉食性峨螺（Nucella ostrina）作为猎物物种、加州贻贝（Mytilus californianus）作为基底资源。