Cleaner fish cause predators to reduce aggression toward bystanders at cleaning stations
Cleaner fish cause predators to reduce aggression toward bystanders at cleaning stations
复制标题
DOI：
10.1093/beheco/arn067
复制
发表时间：
2008-09-01
影响因子：
2.4
通讯作者：
Grutter, Alexandra S.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Cheney, Karen L.;Bshary, Redouan;Grutter, Alexandra S.
互利主义，即参与者都能获得净利益，在所有生态系统中都普遍存在，理解其更广泛的生态背景的重要性已经多次得到证明。互惠的间接影响可能通过密度、物种组成或行为的变化对周围生态系统产生重要影响;然而，后者很难量化。在鱼类清洁互惠中，清洁工通过从客户身上去除和消耗体外寄生虫而受益，而客户则从寄生虫负荷的减少中受益。清洁鱼也被认为受益于免疫捕食和使用触觉刺激作为冲突前的管理策略，以操纵合作伙伴的决定，以避免被食鱼客户鱼吃掉。在这里，我们表明，使用一个实验室实验，清洁鱼的存在导致附近的鱼不参与清洁客户互惠经历较少的侵略（追逐）从掠夺性客户。此外，食鱼客户追逐猎物的速度与清洁工给予捕食者的触觉刺激量呈负相关。这些数据表明，在实验室中，从捕食者对附近的猎物鱼的侵略的风险大大降低了清洁鱼的存在和清洁鱼的捕食者的触觉刺激的副产品。这些结果提出了一个问题，是否清洁站作为安全的避风港从捕食者的侵略。
Mutualisms, in which both participants gain a net benefit, are ubiquitous in all ecosystems, and the importance of understanding their broader ecological context has been demonstrated many times. Indirect effects of mutualisms may have important implications for surrounding ecosystems through changes in density, species composition, or behavior; however, the latter has been difficult to quantify. In fish cleaning mutualisms, cleaners benefit by removing and consuming ectoparasites from clients, whereas clients benefit from a reduction in parasite load. Cleaner fish are also thought to benefit from immunity to predation and use tactile stimulation as a preconflict management strategy to manipulate partners' decisions and to avoid being eaten by piscivorous client fish. Here we show, using a laboratory experiment, that the presence of cleaner fish resulted in nearby fish not involved in the cleaner-client mutualism experiencing less aggression (chases) from predatory clients. In addition, the rate that piscivorous clients chased prey was negatively correlated with the amount of tactile stimulation given to the predator by the cleaner. These data suggest that, in the laboratory, the risk of aggression from predators toward nearby prey fish was greatly reduced as a by-product of cleaner fish presence and tactile stimulation of predators by cleaner fish. These results raise the question of whether cleaning stations act as safe havens from predator aggression.