Thermal acclimation of interactions: differential responses to temperature change alter predator–prey relationship

Abstract

Different species respond differently to environmental change so that species interactions cannot be predicted from single-species performance curves. We tested the hypothesis that interspecific difference in the capacity for thermal acclimation modulates predator -prey interactions. Acclimation of locomotor performance in a predator (Australian bass, Macquaria novemaculeata) was qualitatively different to that of its prey (eastern mosquitofish, Gambusia holbrooki ). Warm (258C) acclimated bass made more attacks than cold (158C) acclimated fish regardless of acute test temperatures (10 -308C), and greater frequency of attacks was associated with increased prey capture success. However, the number of attacks declined at the highest test temperature (308C). Interestingly, escape speeds of mosquitofish during predation trials were greater than burst speeds measured in a swimming arena, whereas attack speeds of bass were lower than burst speeds. As a result, escape speeds of mosquitofish were greater at warm temperatures (258C and 308C) than attack speeds of bass. The decline in the number of attacks and the increase in escape speed of prey means that predation pressure decreases at high temperatures. We show that differential thermal responses affect species interactions even at temperatures that are within thermal tolerance ranges. This thermal sensitivity of predator -prey interactions can be a mechanism by which global warming affects ecological communities.

Effects of acute and chronic temperature changes on the functional responses of the dogfish Scyliorhinus canicula (Linnaeus, 1758) towards amphipod prey Echinogammarus marinus (Leach, 1815)

“…There was a significantly higher attack rate when at BAmbient^temperature compared to BBoth Predator and Prey Acclimated^to 16.3°C. This contrasts with the meta-analysis by Rall et al (2012) and the assumption that attack rate is temperature invariant (Dell et al 2014), but is similar to results in Grigaltchik et al (2012), wherein there was a decreased attack rate but a high predation pressure at increased temperature. Further, our results are similar to Wasserman et al (2016b), wherein attack rate was highest in the lowest temperature at zero habitat complexity.…”

“…The apparent species specificity of thermal dynamics poses an additional layer of difficulty in response prediction due to the metabolism of different species having varying sensitivity to temperature effects and therefore producing differential responses (Lang et al 2012). It is thus difficult to derive accurate conclusions from thermal responses modeled across numerous systems (Grigaltchik et al 2012), but it is widely agreed that temperature change alters ecological stability (Dell et al 2014;Gilbert et al 2014).…”

Living in flowing water increases resistance to ultraviolet B radiation

“…Locomotor performance is closely related to fitness (Husak, 2006;Le Galliard et al, 2004), so the increase in sustained locomotion is likely to have important ecological consequences. Relative locomotor performance of predator and prey, for example, determines predation success (Grigaltchik et al, 2012), and therefore UV-B-induced decreases in locomotor performance increase the likelihood of being captured by predators and, vice versa, any increases in prey performance should increase survival. UV-B reduced U crit in fish in both flowing and still water but, as we hypothesised, fish exposed to UV-B had significantly higher U crit in flowing water than in still water.…”

Body size mediated effects of multiple abiotic stressors on the growth and social behaviour of an estuarine fish, Australian Bass (Macquaria novemaculeata)

“…In support of this, the bass in our study finished the food provided to them within 1 minute, suggesting that they were not fully satiated. Further, Grigaltchik et al (2012) reported that bass made fewer attacks on mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) at temperatures of 30°C and without any increase in food availability, demonstrating that aggression (in the context of predation) did not increase towards heterospecifics at high temperatures.…”