Phenotypic plasticity of two Bosmina species in response to invertebrate predator kairomones

DOI

Phenotypic plasticity is a key mechanism by which prey organisms adapt to variable predation risk. However, the specificity of these responses to different predators remains an important area of research. Here, we present a dataset from a common garden experiment designed to investigate morphological plasticity in two co-occurring zooplankton species, Bosmina coregoni and Bosmina longirostris, from Lake Constance. Replicated clones of both species were exposed to chemical cues (kairomones) from two distinct invertebrate predators, Bythotrephes longimanus and Leptodora kindtii, as well as a predator-free control. The resulting dataset comprises 236 individual observations, with measurements of key defensive traits (body size, antennule size, mucro size, eye diameter), reproductive output (clutch size), and essential metadata (species, clone, age, life stage, treatment). This resource provides a powerful tool for analyzing how predator identity and species-specific life histories interact to shape the expression of induced defenses in freshwater zooplankton.

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Identifier
DOI https://doi.org/10.48606/0st1f7ub55tuqv8r
Metadata Access https://www.radar-service.eu/oai/OAIHandler?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=datacite&identifier=10.48606/0st1f7ub55tuqv8r
Provenance
Creator Baludo, Marjohn ORCID logo; Straile, Dietmar ORCID logo
Publisher University of Konstanz
Contributor RADAR
Publication Year 2025
Funding Reference Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft https://ror.org/018mejw64 ROR 298726046/GRK8872
Rights Open Access; Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International; info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
OpenAccess true
Representation
Language English
Resource Type Dataset
Format application/x-tar
Discipline Biospheric Sciences; Ecology; Geosciences; Natural Sciences