HR: 1330h
AN: NB33P-05    [Abstracts]
TI: Plasticity as Phenotype: G x E Interaction in a Freshwater Snail
AU: * Brunkow, P E
EM: pbrunko@siue.edu
AF: Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Department of Biological Sciences, Southern IL Univ Edwardsville, Edwardsville, IL 62026 United States
AU: Calloway, S A
EM: burnsanne@hotmail.com
AF: Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Department of Biological Sciences, Southern IL Univ Edwardsville, Edwardsville, IL 62026 United States
AB: Plasticity in morphological development allows species to accommodate environmental variation experienced during growth; however, genetic variation for phenotypic plasticity per se has been relatively under-studied. We utilized the well-documented plastic response of shell development to predator cues in a freshwater snail to quantify genetic variation for plasticity in growth rate and shell shape. Field-caught pairs of snails reproduced in the laboratory to create families of full siblings, which were then divided and allowed to grow in control and predator cue treatments. Predator (crayfish) cues had significant effects on both size-corrected growth rate and shell shape; family identity also significantly affected both final shell shape and growth rate. The interaction between predator treatment and family identity significantly affected snail growth rate but not final shell shape, suggesting genetic variation in the plastic response to predator cues for a physiological variable (growth rate) but not for a variable known to mechanically reduce the risk of predation (shell shape), at least in this population of snails. The possibility that risk of multiple modes of predation (i.e., both fish and crayfish) in some populations might maintain genetic variation in morphological plasticity is discussed.
DE: 9810 New fields (not classifiable under other headings)
SC: North American Benthological Society [NB]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly