Hi,
I found a number of behavioural papers studying anxiety behaviour following stress. Stress was induced by exposure to predators, agonistic interaction or electric shocks. But these are almost always about aquatic invertebrates.
What would be the best way to induce stress in terrestrial invertebrates? I am interested in working with some big size soil invertebrates, predatory. Agonistic interaction might be a solution to stress inducing but only if direct contact is not possible (as cannibalism is usual).
Any suggestion for other approach?
Thanks
Hi Mihaela,
You are right: Regarding predation risk more than 90% of the studies were conducted in aquatic ecosystems (see
Article The Many Faces of Fear: Comparing the Pathways and Impacts o...
) and such studies can be difficult to do because predators would immediately kill prey. Different methods have been applied to prevent predation in terrestrial ecosystems. For example, prey can be put on surfaces or in environments previously occupied by predators - so they are confronted with predator cues (cuticular hydrocarbons, silk, feces…). See some examples with spiders...Article Effects of Spider Chemotactile Cues on Arthropod Behavior
Article Spider cues stimulate feeding, weight gain and survival of crickets
Article Plant choice, herbivory and weight gain of wood crickets und...
Article Risk of spider predation alters food web structure and reduc...
or with ladybeetles...
Article Predation and avoidance behaviour in aphid‐ladybird interact...
Article Predation and avoidance behavior of the pea aphid Acyrthosip...
Predators have also been put into small cages. See for example:
Article Sublethal effects of imidacloprid on interactions in a tritr...
Another way to prevent predation would be to glue the mouth parts of invertebrate predators:
Article Herbivore release through cascading risk effects
As you can see, there are some approaches in terrestrial ecosystems that work. It really depends on which cues you want to focus (that are the most important signals for your organisms/environment): gluing mouth parts of invertebrates is probably the most ‘realistic’ method but may be difficult to apply. Confronting prey with predator cues on filter papers or on plants worked well for us in different systems (see references above).
I hope this is still of help for you.
Kind regards,
Roman
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