• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Monday, October 6, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News

Predator or not? Invasive snails hide even when they don’t know

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
January 24, 2017
in Science News
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram
IMAGE

Credit: Emily Grason/University of Washington

Recognizing the signs of a predator can mean the difference between living to see another day and becoming another critter's midday snack.

All prey animals, whether a swift-footed deer or a slow-moving snail, use cues from their environment to sense the presence of a threat. It's what keeps them alive — or at least gives them a shot at getting away.

But the specific cues that trigger prey defenses vary depending on the species of prey and their history in the ecosystem, a new University of Washington study finds. The research, published online Jan. 12 in the journal American Naturalist, analyzed the behavior of seven species of marine snails found in Washington waters — three native and four invasive — and discovered that native and invasive snails use different cues to assess risk.

The invasive snails were introduced unintentionally at least a century ago as hitchhikers on imported oysters. In experiments with these invasives, a UW researcher found that they fled quickly (as snails can do) and hid when they smelled chemicals released from crushed snails of the same species — meant to mimic a predator eating their close kin. This is surprising because these so-called "alarm cues" don't provide the snails with much of a clue as to what or where the danger might be. Panicking with only vague information to go on could even be counter-productive, causing snails to miss their lunch unnecessarily, or actually make them more vulnerable to a predator.

By contrast, the three species of native snails didn't react when they encountered the same situation. Instead, they went about their business until they had multiple sources of information, including from a predator and other prey, before fleeing or hiding.

In other words, the fear reactions in native snails were more finely tuned, while the invasive snails jumped ship at the first whiff of a threat.

"It's pretty rare for a distinction between native and invasive species to be as consistent as it is here — which suggests it might hold true in other species and locations," said author Emily Grason, an invasion ecologist at UW-based Washington Sea Grant who recently completed her doctorate in biology at the UW.

This study is the first to compare multiple species and their reactions to threats using many different predator cues. Because the reactions of native and non-native snails split neatly, it suggests there could be a link between sensitivity to alarm cues and invasion success. On one hand, that can keep them from important tasks like eating and mating, but it also can fortify their strength as an invader, Grason explained.

"The non-native snails show up and they are just neurotic enough, and a bit wary, and that actually helps them survive in certain situations," she said. "You end up with invasive snails that hide at the right time, even if they don't know what the predator is. And that's exactly what happens when snails show up in a new spot; they are surrounded by predators never encountered before. General wariness might keep them alive."

Grason ran separate lab experiments for each species of snail. Two bins, with flowing seawater, were attached by a pipe, and she manipulated cues of a predation threat in the upstream bin while recording snails' behavior in the downstream bin. The cues tested for all species included a crab, either hungry or fed, crushed snails of the same species and two other combinations of these factors.

The invasive snails' catchall reaction to signals of danger can help ecologists better understand invasions and predict their impact on ecosystems, which is never easy.

"Ultimately, biological invasions are a Pandora's box because we don't know what will happen," Grason said. "Nevertheless, understanding the details of an invasion — especially where there are and aren't patterns — is important. Thinking about biological invasions in new ways is going to offer us more tools with which to understand and hopefully intervene, or mitigate the impacts on other species."

###

This study was funded by the UW, the Conchologists of America, the National Shellfisheries Association, the Pacific Northwest Shell Club and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

For more information, contact Grason at [email protected].

Media Contact

Michelle Ma
[email protected]
206-543-2580
@UW

http://www.washington.edu/news/

############

Story Source: Materials provided by Scienmag

Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Age, Insects Shape Cadaver Microbes, Aid PMI

October 6, 2025
blank

Revolutionary Classifier Uncovers Prokaryotic Efflux Proteins

October 6, 2025

DeepMice: Revolutionary Protein-Ligand Docking Model Unveiled

October 6, 2025

Living with Long COVID: Kids’ Perspectives Unveiled

October 6, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • New Study Reveals the Science Behind Exercise and Weight Loss

    New Study Reveals the Science Behind Exercise and Weight Loss

    95 shares
    Share 38 Tweet 24
  • New Study Indicates Children’s Risk of Long COVID Could Double Following a Second Infection – The Lancet Infectious Diseases

    92 shares
    Share 37 Tweet 23
  • New Insights Suggest ALS May Be an Autoimmune Disease

    71 shares
    Share 28 Tweet 18
  • Physicists Develop Visible Time Crystal for the First Time

    75 shares
    Share 30 Tweet 19

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Age, Insects Shape Cadaver Microbes, Aid PMI

Revolutionary Classifier Uncovers Prokaryotic Efflux Proteins

DeepMice: Revolutionary Protein-Ligand Docking Model Unveiled

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 63 other subscribers
  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.