Avoidance Behaviors in Nucella lamellosa: Triggers and Intricacies

Abstract

The Nucella’s defensive morphology is relatively well-understood compared to their defensive behavior, particularly what prompts it – but as for what prompts said defensive behavior, there have been varying results in other studies. In order to shed more light on this issue, this experiment, using the exemplary species Nucella lamellosa, focused on deciphering which stimuli prompted Nucella’s defensive behavior: something inherent to crabs (the Nucella predator) or something inherent to dead Nucella fellows. Two treatments and one control were set up: treatment one would see how Nucella lamellosa reacted to the presence of a known predator crab, Metacarcinus magister; and treatment two would see how Nucella lamellosa reacted to dead fellows. The data came back with the answer that both stimuli prompt Nucella's defensive behavior. While the treatments were not significantly different from each other, both treatments were significantly different from the control. With this in mind, more research should be done on the varying factors that contribute to Nucella lamellosa risk assessment and what they perceive as riskier: dead fellow Nucella or the presence of predators.