LSM3261 Life Form and Function

Zoology Lecture 3 Protection in animals

LSM 3261 Life Form Structure & Function

1st zoology lecture - Animal diversity and basic designs

2nd zoology Lecture - Animal symmetry

Organisation of the animal body; Transmission of messages/materials within the animal body
No. 3 - Protection No. 4 - Support & Locomotion No. 5 - Locomotion (Flight) No. 6 - Sensing the environment, Feeding; Other adaptations
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Animal form and function in relation to:

Objectives

Sources: various.

To learn about various concepts and modes of protection in animals

Animals protect/defend themselves by: 1. Physical means 2. Chemical means 3. Behavioural means

1. Physical Defense
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Physical Defense

1.1 Skin coating 1.2 Body Armour

1. 3. Animal Armament

Tube worms Mollusc shell: arms war Integument

Arthropod Vertebrate

Spines Antlers and horns Claws Teeth, tusks, beaks

1. PHYSICAL DEFENCE
Skin coating (epithelial tissue) Can be thickened for protection Secretory cells produce secretions to help with protection:

Invertebrates
Secretory cells produce cuticle or poisonous chemicals for protection Larvae of some insects produce silk for protection

Vertebrates
Skin glands produce mucus to help reduce moisture loss Some secretory cells produce poison to deter predator

BODY ARMOUR Soft-bodied animals retreat into shelter/ protective structure. E.g.: - Tubes of tube worms or keel worms - Corallite of hard coral polyp - Mollusc shells

tube worm

keel worms

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Molluscs
Thick shell of calcium carbonate Opening sealed with protective plate (operculum) carried on foot of animal Torsion in gastropods - Mantle cavity behind head - Quicker retreat for head

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Top shell, Trochus

Turban shell, Turbo

Why the different types of opercula?

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Mollusca: Gastropoda: Turbinidae

Mata lembu

WildSingapore

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Vermeij, 1974: predator deterrence

Strong shell sculpture, thickened with teeth Obstructed or elongate apertures (vs rounded) Low spires, thick inexible operculum High incidence in IndoWest Pacic cf. Atlantic

These external structures and thickened shells - reduce predation success - by whom? Shell-crushing, shellcutting, drilling and aperture-intruding How else to avoid? Cf. freshwater snails
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What predates on molluscs?

Crabs - chela of calappid, grapsid, portunid, xanthid etc Small shells, relative to the size of a crab predator, are crushed by progressively breaking off larger segments of a shell's apex, while larger shells are peeled by inserting a large dactyl molar into the aperture of a shell and progressively chipping away the lip of the shell. - Bertness & Cuningham, 1981

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Bertness & Cuningham, 1981

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Red eyed reef crab (Eriphia ferox)

Stone or Thunder crab (Myomenippe hardwicki)

Reef box crab (Calappa hepatica)

Spotted-belly forceps crab, Ozius guttatus

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Dimorphism and the functional basis of claw strength in six brachyuran crabs

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Not a simple relationship

The crushers of the three molluscivorous xanthids consistently proved to be morphologically 'strong,' Ocypode quadrata exhibited an extreme dimorphism - suggesting that factors unrelated to a speedstrength dichotomy (e.g. sexual selection) have shaped dimorphism of that species. Claws of crabs specialising on heavily-armoured molluscan prey have claws that are slower but more powerful. Complex shell opening behaviour or specialised claw morphology can sometimes compensate for limited crushing power.
http://delicious.com/sivasothi/lsm3261+defence
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What predates on molluscs?

Fish - jaws or pharyngeal teeth of wrasses (Labridae), damselsh (Pomacentridae), parrotsh (Scaridae) and the surf- perches (Embiotocidae).

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Black Drum (Pogonias cromis) Pharyngeal Teeth By Ryan Moody

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Herichthys minckleyi,
Trophically polymorphic
Cuatro Cinegas Biosphere Reserve, Mexico

Lower pharyngeal jaw with papilliform teeth, specialised to shred plants (Hulsey, 2006)

Mexipyrgus churinceanus

Lower pharyngeal jaw with molariform teeth, specialised to crush molluscs (Hulsey, 2006).
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Schematic drawings of the pharyngeal jaws and associated branchial musculature in the molluscivores P. cromis (left) and its non-durophagous relative, S. ocellatus (right)

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Integument forms protective layers in arthropods Chitinous exoskeleton, fused or jointed with thin, exible joints Plus calcium carbonate in crustaceans Any problems associated with nonliving exoskeleton?

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Functions of the Arthropod Integument

1. Protection of internal organs and tissues 2. Protective barrier against entry of pathogens, parasites, predators and pesticides. 3. Preventive barrier against water loss 4. Provides for the insect the sensory windows to the outside world 5. Lines the tracheae, tracheoles, salivary glands and portions of reproductive tract. All shed during moulting. 6. Protective barrier for foregut and hindgut.
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Vertebrate Integument

Integument serves a protective function in all vertebrates: is the largest surface area for any organ. Same structure in all groups:

Epidermis (skin, ve layers): closely packed cells with little intercellular material. Barrier to chemical, radiation or microbial attack. Dermis (two layers), thicker and tougher, mainly extracellular material manufactured by scattered cells. Physical protection a major function. Hypodermis (subcutaneous fat storage)
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Fish Mucous (Agnatha); denticles (Chondrichthys); scales (Osteichthys), no keratin Amphibians - naked skin (thin keratinised layer); mucous secretions Stratum corneum become thick, lack glands! Reptiles keratinised scales, scutes, plaques, beaks; is renewed. Crocs/alligators have dermal bones; Turtles: growing shell Birds feathers Mammals hair/fur
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FISH scales How else can scales confer protection besides as armour? Cartilaginous sh (sharks, Most bony sh have overlapping scales (ctenoid or cycloid). rays) have placoid scales.

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REPTILES scales How else can scales confer protection besides as armour?

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BIRDS - feathers Evolved from reptilian scales. Epidermal structures. Moulted. How do feathers confer protection?

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MAMMALS - fur How does fur confer protection?

Polar bear

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/polar-bear.html
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MAMMALS thick skin Elephants sometimes referred to as pachyderms

French pachyderme, from New Latin *Pachyderma, sing. of Pachydermata, obsolete order name, from Greek pakhudermos, thick-skinned : pakhus, thick + derma, skin;
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Mathew Grimm/Flickr

MAMMALS: Armadillos
Bony plates develop in skin and covered with horny scutes. Plates arranged in rings around body. Complemented by behaviour and design of rolling into a MAMMALS: Pangolins. ball (sphere) for protection. Scales are actually hairs fused tightly together. Complemented by behaviour and design of rolling into a ball (sphere) for protection.

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Canines in ungulates?
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SPINES

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The burning sensation from contact with urchin spines suggest the incidence of envenomation. But the venom is usually mild and mechanical injury appears to be more serious except for particularly highly venomous species. The pedicillaria sting would require close contact to take effect so can be differentiated during diagnosis (in areas where such injuries are common).

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http://www.mare.hawaii.edu/urchins/hawaiianurchins/echinothrix-calamaris.htm
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Echinothrix calamaris in Hawaii

From: Venomous and Poisonous Marine Animals: A Medical and Biological Handbook, by John A. Williamson, Peter J. Fenner, Joseph W. Burnett, Jacqueline Rifkin. UNSW Press, 1996.

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HORNS

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Horns & Antlers

Family Cervidae (deer) bear antlers. Mouse deer of Asia are not Cervids Most male deer grow and shed antlers annually; only female caribou (reindeer) have antlers Antlers grow as highly vascular spongy bony tissue covered in a skin called velvet. Antlers calcify before the mating season. The velvet is rubbed off and the dead bone underneath forms antlers; these fall off after the mating season.

Horns are mostly found in Bovidae (cloven-hoofed ruminants: cattle, goat, sheep, antelope, buffalo, wildebeest, etc.) Horns are permanent, unbranched and made of keratin sheath over a living, bony core. Usually absent in females of smaller species, why? What is rhino horn?

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CLAWS

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TEETH, BEAKS

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Tusks are long canine teeth Chinese water deer The Latin name (Hydropotes inermis

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ELECTRICITY Specialised organs generate electric current Modied muscle cells (electrocytes) arranged in layers

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2. Chemical Defense
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2. Chemical Defense

Venom spines and stings (some seaurchin, scorpions, sh, platypus; some insects) Venom fangs (some snakes, centipedes, spiders) Chemical secretions/sprays (some insects; some mammals; sea cucumbers; cephalopods)

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2. Chemical Defense

Bristles (reworms, some caterpillars) Stinging cells (cnidarians) Poison/distasteful chemicals (puffer sh, some arthropods, nudibranchs, some amphibians) Mucus production (corals, hagshes)

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Zootoxins are poisons (natural products!)

Oral poisonspoisonous when eaten; believed to be small molecules. Parenteral poisons (=venoms)produced by a specialized poison gland and administered by a mechanical venom apparatus; large molecules, usually a protein. (*parenteral - other than mouth and alimentary canal=enteral / enteron=intenstine) Crinotoxinsproduced by a specialized poison gland and released into the environment, usually by means of a pore.
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Venom spines, stings

Sea urchin
Platypuses are one of the very few mammals which are venomous (the others are some species of shrews)

Wasp
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Chemical secretions/sprays

bombardier beetle

Photo Copyright Diane R. Nelson

Eviscerating sea cucumber, nestbuilding ants

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Stinging cells
Cnidocyte

Nucleus Thread Capsule

Lid

Nematocyst (not discharged) Cnidocil (trigger) Thread All cnidarians have cnidocytes that use water pressure to shoot out a harpoon-like nematocyst whenever they are triggered.

Nematocyst (discharged)
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Nudibranchs

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Chemical warfare between coral colonies using sweeper tentacles

Galaxea fascicularis Galaxea fascicularis sweeper tentacles stretched towards Alveopora colony
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Poison/distasteful chemicals
- In conjunction with aposematic colouration (warning colouration)
Nudibranchs Reef crabs

Poison Arrow frogs, Dendrobates

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Poison dart frogs = poison arrow frogs Family Dendrobatidae, native to Central and South America diurnal, aposematic colouration lipophilic alkaloids bioaccumulated from insect prey

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Epipedobates tricolor poison = epibetadine analgesic (200x morphine), appears to have similar effect as nicotine.

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3. Other methods
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3. Other Defensive (anti-predator) methods

3.1 Avoid detection Camouage (form and colour): disruptive, mimetic, countershading False eye/head Rear attack Frontal attack

3.2 Avoid attack = warning Warning colouration (aposematic colouration) Mimicry Puff up size 3.3 Avoid consumption = distraction Autotomy; Puff up size 3.4 Avoid capture = evasion Run/swim/y away Hide
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3.1 Avoiding Detection

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3.1 Avoiding detection

a. Mimetic camouage
Stick insects mimic plant parts (owers, leaves, twigs) in both form and colour

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Stick Insect

Photo by Clopin clopant @ Flickr

http://www.ickr.com/photos/vercoquin/1638760721/ 66

Horned Frog, Megophrys nasuta

Horned frog mimics leaf litter in both form and colour

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Horned Frog, Megophrys nasuta

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Alexander Haas, Frogs of Borneo

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3.1 Avoiding detection

b. Background matching

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http://ickr.com/photos/paperglyphs/ 2315279189/

Kelley Kuhlman

Camouage in Peacock Flounders

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Jos Eduardo Silva

http://ickr.com/photos/ 97968921@N00/1767585490/

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http://ickr.com/photos/ alex_and_terhi/2178306820/

Alexander Yates

http://ickr.com/photos/ 69919391@N00/2778741446/?

Henry & Tersia

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Rodrigo Sala
http://ickr.com/photos/ rodrigosala/2459314107/

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William Dalton
http://ickr.com/photos/ bovinacowboy/469864374/
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c. Countershading

3.1 Avoiding detection

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Countershading (Thayers Law, 1892)

Common in nekton; in many shes, whales and squid. (also terrestrial animals; warships; background matching) Darker green or blue pigmentation on dorsal surface.

Viewed from above, the pigmented upper surfaces blend with the darker background below. Viewed from below, difcult to distinguish from ambient light coming from the sea surface above.

White or silvery ventral surface.

Abbott H Thayer (1849-1921), Concealing Coloration in the Animal Kingdom, 1907

Protection against predators. Sudden ash of silver sh bellies or dark backs possible alert signals.

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Countershading in ungulates?

Stoner et al (2003) compared 200 species of artiodactyls: colour, behaviour, ecology Lightening of coat colour - if exposed to bright winter conditions Striped coats - hiding young, adults that live in light forests Countershading - desert animals, no clear evidence otherwise
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Marine animals have a more uniform background for counter-shading to be adaptive

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3.1 Avoiding detection b. False eye spot/head

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Buttery shes (Chaetodontids)

Might also be aposematic! Possible Mllerian mimicry.

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Nathan Messer

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Polyphemus Moth Dave Huth

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Owl Butteries
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Charlie J
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Gaylon Keeling
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Joelle Johnson

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Photo by Lim Leng Hiong For Canning Park

http://www.freshbrainz.com/2007/12/outdoor-modelphotography.html

Auto-mimicry?

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Vigilance - foraging trade-off

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Guardian, 2009

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However, there are limits to how head-like the tail can be made to look. ... the tail's adaptation involves a trade-off between looking like a head and being good for swimming. The tail has to be slightly attened to allow it to act like a paddle which reduces its resemblance to the head. But the head-like way the tail twists about when the snake is foraging in a crack might make up for this.
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The "thick-tailed sea snake" another snake with the appearance of two heads. Photograph: Arne Rasmussen/PA
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What antipredatory features does the swallowtail moth exhibit?

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Lyssa zampa

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3.2 Avoiding Attack

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3.2 Avoiding attack

a. Aggressive Mimicry

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Cuttlesh or octopus can change body colouration and apparent texture to match the background Mimic octopus can also alter its shape to resemble other marine animals
Thaumoctopus mimicus

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Indo-Malayan mimic octopus Thaumoctopus mimicus

http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=260
Norman MD, Finn J, Tregenza T (2001) Dynamic mimicry in an IndoMalayan octopus. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 268(1478):1755-1758.
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Raymond G http://www.ickr.com/photos/ racaza/2309289593/

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3.2 Avoiding attack

b. Batesian, Mullerian mimicry

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Batesian mimicry (sheep in wolf s clothing)

Harmless species (mimic) resembling harmful species (model). Examples:

Mimic octopus and lionsh or sea snake Scarlet king snake and eastern coral snake Monarch buttery and Viceroy buttery? Economy?
http://marinebio.org/ species.asp?id=260

Mllerian mimicry
Harmful species resembling one another (rare one a mimic?)

E.g. Monarch buttery and Viceroy buttery?

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Eastern coral snake (Micrurus fulvius fulvius)

Scarlet king snake (Lampropeltis triangulum elapsoides) 105

Monarch buttery and Viceroy buttery:

Classic example of Batesian mimicry by inference Monarch caterpillar feeds on poisonous milkweed leaves; Viceroy caterpillar feeds on non-poisonous willow and poplar leaves Until 1991, when studies suggested that Viceroy buttery is also distasteful to predators (birds) May therefore be an example of Mllerian mimicry instead

Monarch buttery

Viceroy buttery
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Natural selection should favour even poor mimics where their model is common, but only good mimics where their model is rare.

Harper, Jr, G. R. & D. W. Pfennig , 2007. Mimicry on the edge: why do mimics vary in resemblance to their model in different parts of their geographical range? Proc. R. Soc. B., 274: 1955-1961 107

Comparing Batesian and Mullerian mimicry

Mutualism versus parasitism More accurate mimic

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Emsleyan or Mertensian mimicry

More deadly animal mimics less deadly! Harmful not deadly in order to train?

E.g. milk snake (safe) and coral snake (deadly) mimic False coral snake (moderately toxic)

Auo-mimicry - can you guess what this refers to?

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3.3 Avoiding Consumption

Puffer sh

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Behavioural defense

Form partnerships (symbiosis) Play dead Living in groups

Working together? Exploiting one another?

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Symbiotic partnerships

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Playing dead

Opossum playing dead

Grass snake

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Living in groups herding / schooling

Photo Copyright Diane R. Nelson

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FYI - Convergence of defensive behaviour - a perspective for psychiatry

Shuhama, R. et al., 2007. Animal defense strategies and anxiety disorders. Anais da Academia Brasileira de Cincias (Annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences), 79(1): 97-109. Reviews papers by Blanchard.

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The experimental analysis of defensive behavior has identied three strategies of defense that are shared by different animal species, triggered by three situations: potential predatory threat - cautious exploration of the environment for risk assessment distal predatory threat - oriented escape or behavioral inhibition, proximal predatory threat - disorganized ight or complete immobility
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Anxiety disorders

Potential predatory threat - cautious exploration of the environment for risk assessment Associated emotion: anxiety Pathology: Generalized Anxiety Disorder.

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Anxiety disorders

Distal predatory threat - oriented escape or behavioral inhibition, associated emotion: normal fear pathology: Specic Phobias Proximal predatory threat - disorganized ight or complete immobility associated emotion: dread pathology: Panic Disorder.
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Protection/Defence
General strategies an animal adopts when threatened:

Hold position (need protective or offensive weapons) Give warning/threat that you are dangerous Evasive action (run, hide, ee, escape detection, play dead)

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Hierarchy of antipredatory defense level Blanchard and Blanchard (1988) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Risk assessment, Escape, Tense immobility, Defensive threat, Defensive attack.

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