Life history shifts in response to different levels of fish kairomones in Daphnia

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Abstract
Life history parameters, such as age and size at maturity, neonate size and number of eggs in the first clutch, of a clone of the hybrid Daphnia galeata x hyalina were determined at six levels of fish kairomones. It was found that the age and size at maturity decreased gradually with increasing kairomone level, while the number of eggs in the first clutch increased linearly. At the same time, neonate size decreased linearly with increasing kairomone level. In a starvation experiment, newly born neonates of mothers not cultivated in the presence of kairomones survived the longest. These results show that Daphnia is able to adjust its life history traits to different levels of kairomones, and thus to different fish densities.

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