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Laterally biased diffusion of males of the water flea Daphnia magna
Author(s) -
Toyota Kenji,
Yasugi Masaki,
Tatarazako Norihisa,
Iguchi Taisen,
Watanabe Eiji
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
journal of experimental zoology part a: ecological and integrative physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.834
H-Index - 11
eISSN - 2471-5646
pISSN - 2471-5638
DOI - 10.1002/jez.2595
Subject(s) - daphnia magna , biology , reproduction , asexual reproduction , mating , sexual reproduction , diffusion , flea , cladocera , zoology , branchiopoda , ecology , zooplankton , physics , chemistry , organic chemistry , toxicity , thermodynamics
The water flea, Daphnia magna , is a representative zooplankton that lives in freshwater environments. It primarily propagates via asexual reproduction in normal and healthy environmental conditions. Unsuitable environmental conditions induce D. magna to change its mode of reproduction from asexual to sexual reproduction. During sexual reproduction, D. magna produces special tough eggs (resting eggs) that can survive severe environmental conditions. Despite an increase in our understanding of their mating behavior, the sex‐specific characteristics of swimming behavior among daphnid species are poorly understood. In this study, we analysed the swimming patterns and dynamics of female and male adult D. magna using computer modeling. Males displayed laterally biased diffusion in contrast to the homogeneous, nondirectional diffusion of females. Computer modeling analysis using a discrete‐time Markov chain simulation, in which the frequencies of turning behavior were evaluated as probability distributions, explained the greater diffusion of males in the horizontal direction. We presumed that high diffusion in the horizontal direction would increase the probability of encountering a distant mate. Our findings suggest that male D. magna increases genotypic heterogeneity by effectively selecting certain motion parameters.