Worm Grunting, Fiddling, and Charming-Humans Unknowingly Mimic a Predator to Harvest Bait
Worm Grunting, Fiddling, and Charming-Humans Unknowingly Mimic a Predator to Harvest Bait
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DOI：
10.1371/journal.pone.0003472
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发表时间：
2008-10-14
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Catania, Kenneth C.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Catania, Kenneth C.
背景：几代人以来，佛罗里达阿巴拉契科拉国家森林里和周围的许多家庭都靠收集地方性的大型蚯蚓(密西西比河蚯蚓)来维持生计。这是通过在土壤中敲入一根木桩来实现的，这种做法被称为“蠕虫咕哝”。作为对振动的反应，蠕虫出现在表面，在那里可以在几个小时内聚集数千条蠕虫。为什么这些蚯蚓会因为震动而突然离开洞穴，使自己暴露在捕食之下？主要发现：这里显示，美国东部的鼹鼠(Scalopus Aquaticus)种群生活在收集蠕虫的区域，蚯蚓对鼹鼠有明显的逃逸反应，包括迅速离开洞穴，在土壤表面逃窜。对收集诱饵和鼹鼠产生的振动的记录表明，“蠕虫咕噜”在不知不觉中模仿挖掘鼹鼠。另一种可能性是，蠕虫将振动解释为雨和表面以避免溺水。结论：先前的研究表明，木龟和鲱鱼都通过振动地面来引发蚯蚓逃逸，这表明一系列捕食者可能利用蚯蚓和鼹鼠之间的捕食者-猎物关系。除了揭示了一种可能在土壤动物中广泛存在的新型逃逸反应外，研究结果还表明，人类在利用感官军备竞赛的后果方面扮演了“稀有捕食者”的角色。
Background: For generations many families in and around Florida's Apalachicola National Forest have supported themselves by collecting the large endemic earthworms (Diplocardia mississippiensis). This is accomplished by vibrating a wooden stake driven into the soil, a practice called "worm grunting''. In response to the vibrations, worms emerge to the surface where thousands can be gathered in a few hours. Why do these earthworms suddenly exit their burrows in response to vibrations, exposing themselves to predation?Principal Findings: Here it is shown that a population of eastern American moles (Scalopus aquaticus) inhabits the area where worms are collected and that earthworms have a pronounced escape response from moles consisting of rapidly exiting their burrows to flee across the soil surface. Recordings of vibrations generated by bait collectors and moles suggest that "worm grunters'' unknowingly mimic digging moles. An alternative possibility, that worms interpret vibrations as rain and surface to avoid drowning is not supported.Conclusions: Previous investigations have revealed that both wood turtles and herring gulls vibrate the ground to elicit earthworm escapes, indicating that a range of predators may exploit the predator-prey relationship between earthworms and moles. In addition to revealing a novel escape response that may be widespread among soil fauna, the results show that humans have played the role of "rare predators'' in exploiting the consequences of a sensory arms race.