Phenotypic Plasticity in a Food Web

在这里，使用一个简单的食物链，包括一个顶级捕食者(蜻蜓幼虫)，一个中间捕食者(火蜥蜴幼虫)，和青蛙蝌蚪作为猎物，我们证明了蜻蜓风险线索的存在大大改变了这两种两栖动物对抗性形态可塑性的强度。在没有蜻蜓的情况下，蝌蚪对火蜥蜴的反应是产生更大的身体，而火蜥蜴对这种防御的反应是扩大它们的嘴。然而，在蜻蜓风险线索的存在下，这两个拮抗特征的表达显著减少，因为蝌蚪和火蜥蜴产生的表型对蜻蜓捕食者更有效。

Here, using a simple food chain consisting of a top predator (dragonfly larvae), an intermediate predator (salamander larvae), and frog tadpoles as prey, we show that the presence of dragonfly risk cues substantially modifies the intensity of antagonistic morphological plasticity in both amphibians. In the absence of dragonflies, tadpoles produced bulgier bodies in response to salamanders, and salamanders responded to this defense by enlarging their gape size. However, in the presence of dragonfly risk cues, the expression of both antagonistic traits was significantly reduced because tadpoles and salamanders produced phenotypes that are more effective against dragonfly predators.