Chemical encoding of risk perception and predator detection among estuarine invertebrates

Significance Chemical cues are essential to marine life, particularly for detecting predators. Despite decades of research, almost nothing is known of the molecular nature of these waterborne cues. This prevents us from assessing environmental variation and impacts of these cues and from understanding and manipulating predator–prey signaling pathways. Leveraging natural chemical variation in the urine of a predatory crab using metabolomics, the chemical profiles of urine from crabs fed different diets were revealed to be predictive of their fear-inducing potency. This pattern led us to identify the major constituents of the chemical cue used by mud crab prey to detect and avoid their predator. This investigation serves as a blueprint for investigating the molecular nature of these community-structuring waterborne cues.

Chemical encoding of risk perception and predator detection among estuarine invertebrates Academic Article