Facing multiple enemies: trade-offs between adaptive responses to predators and parasites in the context of inducible defences.

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Christian Laforsch
• Subject Area: Ecology and Biodiversity of Animals and Ecosystems, Organismic Interactions
• Term: from 2010 to 2014
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 165935089

In nature, organisms encounter a variety of enemies simultaneously, leading to trade-offs between adaptive responses. In predator-prey interactions, for example, a defence trait against one predator could render the prey more vulnerable to another predator. Hence, phenotypic plasticity in the prey’s defensive traits is a widespread mechanism to cope with a continuously changing predator spectrum. The costs and benefits of these inducible defences have not been explored in the context of simultaneous exposure to enemies from different functional levels, such as predators and parasites. We propose to study the effects of such a multiple-enemy situation. Specifically, we wish to address trade-offs between prey morphological, life-history and behavioural responses to predator threats and their susceptibility to common and virulent parasites. Our target prey animals (and hosts) will be waterfleas (Daphnia), which are a wellestablished model system in both predator-prey and host-parasite research, and will thus allow us to build on earlier developed tools and methods. This project will be a combination of field sampling and laboratory experiments on predator-prey-parasite interactions, and will advance our understanding of adaptive plasticity and community dynamics in a multiple enemy context.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Participating Person: Dr. Justyna Wolinska