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.为探究蛾螺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）开展室内实验，以验证此前的捕食者暴露经历是否会对猎物觅食行为产生持续影响，并进而作用于基础资源——即便捕食者已被移除。我们同时检验了先前捕食压力所遗留的行为与形态学效应。本研究系统为三营养级食物链，以红岩蟹（red rock crab, Cancer productus）作为捕食者、肉食性蛾螺（carnivorous whelk, Nucella ostrina）作为猎物物种，加州贻贝（California mussel, Mytilus californianus）作为基础资源。