Sex differences in alarm response and predation risk in the fresh water snail Pomacea canaliculata

Abstract

Many animals show alarm responses (ARs) to chemical cues released from predators or injured conspecifics. However, the prey often makes a trade-off between predation avoidance and reproduction, resulting in pronounced sex differences in AR and in sex-biased predation. This phenomenon has rarely been investigated in snails. The freshwater snail Pomacea canaliculata is reported to exhibit an AR to chemical cues released from predators or injured conspecifics. Here, we investigate the sex differences in AR in the snail to chemical cues released from its predator turtle Chinemys reevesii and injured conspecifics. By exposing adult females and males of equivalent size to turtles, we also evaluate the sex-biased predation in the snail. We find that females respond to chemical cues significantly more strongly than males. The predation experiment shows that more females survived than males after a week of predation. These results suggest that males may reduce their antipredator behaviour in order to increase the chance of mating, suggesting a trade-off between predation avoidance and reproduction. © The Author 2014.