Jag. Moran et J. Arrontes, FACTORS AFFECTING FOOD PREFERENCE IN A WIDESPREAD INTERTIDAL ISOPOD, Journal of experimental marine biology and ecology, 182(1), 1994, pp. 111-121
Preference for two macroalgae and feeding rate were influenced by prev
ious experience in the intertidal isopod Dynamene bidentata (Adams). I
n preference experiments, animals reared in the laboratory with either
Arcus vesiculosus L. or Cystoseira baccata (Gmelin) Silva as sole res
ources did not exhibit preference for either of the two algae. Prefere
nce for Fucus was exhibited by the same animals in a subsequent experi
ment. Specimens reared on Cystoseira exhibited a greater feeding rate
than those reared on Fucus. Animals collected in the field on Fucus an
d Cystoseira preferred Fucus. Digestive efficiency was consistently hi
gher when the animals ate Fucus than when the animals ate Cystoseira.
Results suggest that, in D. bidentata, feeding preferences are set aft
er the animals sample the environment for food quality. The existence
of a compensatory mechanism in animals kept on suboptimal food resourc
es (Cystoseira) is also suggested.