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Differences in exocuticle thickness in Leucorrhinia dubia (Odonata) larvae from habitats with and without fish

<p>Many prey species are able to develop different morphological structures as defence against</p><p>for example predators. Some of these structures are induced only by individuals exposed to a</p><p>predator. This phenomenon is called phenotypic plasticity. In this paper we examine whether</p><p>cuticle thickness in Leucorrhinia dubia (Odonata) larvae differed between specimens caught</p><p>in fish containing lakes and fish-free lakes respectively. We measured the thickness of the</p><p>cuticle from four different parts of the larvae; profemur, pronotum, ninth segment sternite and</p><p>ninth segment tergite. Our results showed a significantly thicker exocuticle on profemur in</p><p>larvae with a head width bigger than 4.5 mm caught in lakes with fish. The smaller larvae</p><p>showed a tendency to have thinner exocuticle on profemur in presence of fish. We discuss the</p><p>probability that the differences in exocuticle thickness on profemur could be some kind of</p><p>trade-off situation. The results also showed a tendency among the large larvae; the large</p><p>individuals from lakes containing fish had a slightly thicker exocuticle on pronotum than the</p><p>bigger individuals from fish-free lakes.</p>

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA/oai:DiVA.org:hh-169
Date January 2006
CreatorsOlne, Karin, Flenner, Ida
PublisherHalmstad University, School of Business and Engineering (SET), Halmstad University, School of Business and Engineering (SET), Högskolan i Halmstad/Sektionen för Ekonomi och Teknik (SET)
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, text

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