Behavioral observations of the amphipod Melita palmata (Montagu, 1804) under controlled conditions in laboratory

BAZTERRICA MARÍA CIELO; ALVAREZ GRACIELA ISABEL; BARÓN PEDRO; OBENAT SANDRA

Mar del Plata

Encuentro; X Encuentro Biólogos En Red; 2015

Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales-Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata

The study of animal behavior contributes with the understanding of the ecological dynamics, both at the population and community levels. Recently, the role of behavioral traits in invasive processes has received increasing attention. In Mar Chiquita coastal lagoon (37° 32? S), the invasive reef forming polychaete, Ficopomatus enigmaticus (Fauvel, 1923), is widely distributed. Reefs constitute patches of hard substrate with more structural complexity than the adjacent soft sediment. This difference in habitat structure might affect several population parameters of macrofaunal species, which in turn, might also affect macrofaunal behavioral responses. In this context, we proposed a study case to investigate variations in behavioral responses related to invasive processes, by comparing the behavior of the amphipod Melita palmata between sites modified and not modified by F. enigmaticus. Here, we show the results of the evaluation of an adequate aquarium conditions for the manipulation, survival, growth, reproduction and behavioral observations of M. palmata. We collected individuals of M. palmata from the field, and determined conditions of holding, feeding and isolation of individuals; we developed maintenance aquaria as reservoir of living amphipods, together with aquaria for the different categories that we could identified: males, females, gravid females and juveniles; we identified and quantified the following behavior traits: swim, exploration, crawled, feeding, and the formation of precopulatory mating pairs and made an habitat preference experiment; we cultured gravid females, and offsprings to sizes possible to be sexed; We made an habitat preference experiment. Our results show that our procedures to maintain M. palmata in aquarium have the capacity to provide individuals in good conditions for being used in experimental routines, including it reproduction. We observed that males had different habitat preferences that females since males spend more time inside reefs than exploring in the sediment as females. These differences could affect the abundance and distribution of the individuals of in the field and are the first step in the understanding of the behavior of M. palmata in Mar Chiquita coastal lagoon.