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First published online June 26, 2009
Journal of Experimental Biology 212, 2237-2247 (2009)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2009
doi: 10.1242/jeb.031575

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`Different strokes for different folks': geographically isolated strains of Lymnaea stagnalis only respond to sympatric predators and have different memory forming capabilities

Michael V. Orr, Karla Hittel and Ken Lukowiak^*

Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 4N1

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: lukowiak{at}ucalgary.ca)

Accepted 7 May 2009

Gaining insight into how natural trait variation is manifest in populations shaped by differential environmental factors is crucial to understanding the evolution, ecology and sensory biology of natural populations. We have demonstrated that lab-reared Lymnaea detect and respond to the scent of a crayfish predator with specific, appropriate anti-predator behavioral responses, including enhanced long-term memory (LTM) formation, and that such predator detection significantly alters the electrophysiological activity of RPeD1, a neuron that is a necessary site for LTM formation. Here we ask: (1) do distinct populations of wild Lymnaea stagnalis respond only to sympatric predators and if so, can these traits be quantified at both the behavioral and neurophysiological levels, and (2) does the presence of a non-sympatric predator elicit anti-predator behaviors including augmentation of LTM? We tested three different populations of wild (i.e. not lab-reared) snails freshly collected from their natural habitat: (1) polders near Utrecht in The Netherlands, (2) six seasonally isolated ponds in the Belly River drainage in southern Alberta, Canada and (3) a 20-year-old human-made dugout pond in southern Alberta. We found strain-specific variations in the ability to form LTM and that only a sympatric predator evoked anti-predatory behaviors, including enhanced LTM formation and changes in RPeD1 activity.

Key words: Lymnaea stagnalis, long-term memory, sympatric predator, anti-predator behaviors, environmental stress

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