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Learning, memory and predator avoidance by freshwater snails: effects of experience on predator recognition and defensive strategy

A number of recent studies show that animals have an impressive ability to detect and avoid predators. The ability to detect predators and employ an appropriate behavioural defense may be innate or it may be learned, but for most taxa the role of experience in shaping predator avoidance behavior is not known. We assessed whether perception of predation risk and choice of defensive strategies by the snail Physa acuta is influenced by experience by performing three experiments in which we manipulated exposure to predators and then assayed behavioural responses to predator cues. Snails responded to both fish and crayfish predators, but the defensive strategy depended on prior exposure to predators, showing that learning plays some role in shaping anti-predator behavior. Overall, however, the effects of experience were small relative to the overall effects of predator cues on snail habitat use, showing that the anti-predator responses of P. acuta are largely innate.

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