Mills Suzanne C, Reynolds John D
Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK.
Oecologia. 2002 May;131(3):473-478. doi: 10.1007/s00442-002-0895-7. Epub 2002 May 1.
A range of cues may be used by parasites in selecting hosts, yet few studies have examined multiple cues simultaneously. We investigated the proximate cues involved in spawning decisions of the European bitterling, Rhodeus sericeus, a species of fish which lays its eggs in four species of freshwater mussel. When offered a choice of both live and artificial mussels within a single species, females preferred mussels that have high flow speeds and that pump a large volume of water per unit time. Furthermore, the time taken to spawn for a second time in a mussel was accurately predicted from a mussel's ventilation rate. These bitterling preferences based on mussel ventilation rates may benefit the embryos through enhanced oxygenation. We found no preferences for mussel species based on visual or olfactory cues, though the latter cannot be ruled out entirely. Ventilation rates should indicate the quality of host species for offspring survival.
寄生虫在选择宿主时可能会利用一系列线索，但很少有研究同时考察多种线索。我们研究了欧洲苦恶鸟（Rhodeus sericeus）产卵决策中涉及的直接线索，欧洲苦恶鸟是一种在四种淡水贻贝中产卵的鱼类。当在单一物种内提供活贻贝和人工贻贝供其选择时，雌性更喜欢流速高且单位时间内抽水量大的贻贝。此外，根据贻贝的通气率可以准确预测在贻贝中第二次产卵所需的时间。基于贻贝通气率的这些苦恶鸟偏好可能通过增强氧合作用使胚胎受益。我们没有发现基于视觉或嗅觉线索对贻贝物种的偏好，不过后者不能完全排除。通气率应该能够表明宿主物种对后代生存的质量。
