Community-wide consequences of nonconsumptive predator effects on a foundation species

1. Predators can exert nonconsumptive effects (NCEs) on prey, which often take place through prey behavioural adjustments to minimize predation risk. As NCEs are widespread in nature, interest is growing to determine whether NCEs on a prey species can indirectly influence several other species simultaneously, thus leading to changes in community structure. 2. In this study, we investigate whether a predator can exert NCEs on a foundation species and indirectly affect community structure. 3. Through laboratory experiments, we first tested whether the predatory marine snail Acanthina monodon exerts negative NCEs on larviphagy (consumption of pelagic larvae) and phytoplankton filtration rates of the mussel Perumytilus purpuratus, an intertidal foundation species. These hypotheses stem from the notion that mussels may decrease feeding activities in the presence of predator cues to limit detection by predators. Afterwards, a field experiment tested whether the presence of A. monodon ne...1. 捕食者可对猎物产生非消耗效应（nonconsumptive effects, NCEs），此类效应通常通过猎物调整行为以降低被捕食风险得以实现。鉴于非消耗效应在自然界中广泛存在，学界日益关注的核心问题为：对某一猎物物种的非消耗效应是否可同时间接影响多个其他物种，进而引发群落结构的改变。 2. 本研究旨在探究捕食者是否可对建群物种（foundation species）产生非消耗效应，并间接影响群落结构。 3. 通过室内实验，我们首先验证了海洋捕食性螺类刺岩螺（Acanthina monodon）是否会对潮间带建群物种秘鲁紫贻贝（Perumytilus purpuratus）的幼体摄食率（larviphagy，即对浮游幼体的取食）以及浮游植物滤食率产生负向非消耗效应。本研究的相关假说基于如下认知：当暴露于捕食者的化学信号时，贻贝会降低摄食活动以减少自身被捕食者发现的概率。随后，一项野外实验旨在验证刺岩螺（A. monodon）的存在是否会……