2026-10-07T10:05:02Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/31416554 2026-09-16T22:15:11Z category_24214 category_24223 item_type_3 month_year_09_2026

Snail Fear Gen and Cross Sensitivity Janice Yan (17125732) Richard Szeligowski (19111538) Zoe Routh (23255948) Andrew Sih (333704) Behavioural ecology Freshwater ecology Behavioral ecology. Fear Generalization Fire Ecology Aquatic Ecology Behavioral Syndromes Animal Personality <p dir="ltr">Behavioural responses to multiple stressors play a major role in survival and fitness. In this context, an important issue that has rarely been tested is fear generalization, where responses to disparate threats are correlated at the individual level. Further, while sensitization to stressors is well-studied, cross-sensitization, where exposure to one threat increases responsiveness to unrelated threats, is under-studied. We therefore exposed juvenile Physid snails (<i>Physa acuta</i>) to one of two disparate threats throughout their developmental period: predator cues and ash, a stressor associated with fire. We then assayed snails’ responses, relative to control snails that had no experience with either threat, to three acute exposures of each stressor. We documented consistent individual differences in snails’ avoidance of predation cues and of ash. Exposure to either stressor led to sensitization at short- and long-term timescales. Importantly, snails exhibited fear generalization; individuals that avoided predation cues more strongly also avoided ash more strongly. Finally, we documented cross-sensitization; snails reared with ash showed heightened responses to predator cues while snails reared with predator cues showed heightened responses to ash. To our knowledge, this is the first study documenting behavioural cross-sensitization for threats as disparate as predator cues and fire-residue in a non-human animal.</p><p><br></p> 2026-09-16T22:15:11Z Dataset Dataset 10.6084/m9.figshare.31416554.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Snail_Fear_Gen_and_Cross_Sensitivity/31416554 CC BY 4.0