Meeting Abstract
In order to survive organisms must be able to detect the presence of potential threats in their environment. Individuals rely on sensory mechanisms to identify certain cues, such as chemical, mechanical and visual, generated by predators. Various studies suggest that aquatic animals, including crayfish, typically rely on chemical cues to evaluate potential predatory threats. This study focused on the extent to which prey use chemical, mechanical, and visual cues to detect predators and whether the reliance on mechanisms is altered across different sensory environments (such as flow vs non-flow habitats). To study the importance of sensory mechanisms in aquatic rusty crayfish, Orconectes rusticus, two sensory mechanisms (visual and mechanical, visual and chemical, or chemical and mechanical) were selectively lesioned leaving the remaining mechanism (chemical, mechanical, or visual) functional. Each crayfish was then exposed to a predatory largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides, in either a flowing or non-flowing stream where their behavior was recorded for thirty minutes. A 2 x 4 fully factorial MANOVA, followed by a Fisher LSD post – hoc test, showed differences in behavior between the different lesions and environments. The results show crayfish are more responsive to predatory threats in flowing streams when all of their sensory mechanisms are intact.
