Scientists'AlternativeHypotheses

Fun game, Bill!
 
1. first, I would like to understand why some lobsters don´t attack seahares (is this true for any species of seahares?) Do they have some toxic substance (tasting bad) that make the lobsters sick? 
2. the lobsters that don´t attack a seahare, what happens if you present an alternative food? May be they just have had a delicious dinner, who wants to eat then? In this way, may be you can prove that it is really hunger that makes the difference. 
3. what does the seahare gain from the sensitization behaviour? Can it really avoid to be killed by the lobster in some way?
 
ok, Hillbilly, more questions than hypotesisis! Science (the journal) is eagerly waiting!
Have fun,
 
Klaus

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ill--

I'm guessing you're correcting as well as possible for this, but human
nature operating on and being aware of your hypothesis might introduce
slight artifacts in the way that your collaborators are presenting the
sea hares to the lobsters.  That is, *knowing* that you're in a preserve
you may present them more gently or more tantalizingly than out of the
preserve, where you don't expect the lobsters to go for it so present
them more dismissively.  Akin to presenting a tasty burger (or maybe,
more accurately, a cold, day-old burger) on a silver platter versus,
say, in your shoe.

One way to try and normalize this would be to bring both types of
lobsters to the lab and do blind studies of presentations where the
presenters (humans) don't know which lobsters are from the preserve and
which aren't.  Of course, this introduces other potential artifacts; a
more complex but entertaining way to do this would be to blindfold your
divers until they're at the site so they don't know if they're in the
preserve or out of it.

Overall though I doubt that this would be sufficient to explain your
differences.  I do like your idea that lobster density, and
correspondingly group community dynamics, might influence behavior.  To
continue my odd analogy, if there are a lot of other potentially hungry
people around me I might be more inclined to eat the cold burger out of
the shoe based on survival instincts that tell me if I don't eat it,
someone else will, and I'll lose out.  Whereas if I'm alone I'm not as
pressured; if I don't eat the cold burger, it'll just stick around, and
when I get hungry enough I'll go for it, just not right now, thank you.

Cheers,
  Chris

Student'sAlternativeHypotheses

Here's my alternative hypothesis, let me know if you've thought of it already.

*Lobsters in Big Fishermans' Cove and other preserves/MPA's are willing to eat Aplysia presented to them by scientists because they frequently encounter divers and are unafraid of human contact.  These divers often present the lobsters with a snack or food item, hence the lobsters are conditioned to eating what the divers present to them, and therefore attack the Aplysia readily.

Non Scientist's Alternative Hypotheses

Billy,

Lobsta report from Newport,
Rhode Island, that is.
Walk on the city dock today.
Piled high with lobsta traps.

What's that smell?
Sure is strong.
Barrels of dead skates
ferment in the sun.

Skates must be cheap,
and the lobstas must love them.
They crawl into the trap,
And head for my steaming pot.

How can the animal
who eats such
smelly, nasty stuff
taste so good on my plate?

DaveC
BTW, no lobstas on my plate yet, hopefully soon!

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Billy,

Here are a couple of attempts at alternatives, for what they are.

1.      The handling of sea hares alters the sea hare's behavior/state,
which in turn induces lobsters to attack.  (Granted, this is a variant
of alternative e.  And, it doesn't explain why lobsters outside the
reserve don't attack [but that wasn't one of the 3 given observations,
was it?])

2.      The overcrowding of lobsters inside the reserves results in more
aggressive behavior in general, inducing them to attack sea hares, sea
urchins, and other defended invertebrates.

Question:  Could analysis of lobster tissues indicate whether the
lobsters are eating sea hares or sea urchins or other defended
invertebrates?  That is, are there elements or compounds that are
somewhat unique to sea hares &/or sea urchins and other defended
invertebrates that are preserved even when ingested by a lobster and
therefore detectable in the tissues of the lobsters that eat them?  If
so, then might that be a way of corroborating the field observations
that reserve lobsters eat them while lobsters residing outside the
reserves do not.  I.e., the way C4 can be used to determine the amount
of corn based foods eaten by someone as discussed in Michael Pollan's
Omnivore's Dilemma.

Enjoying the e-mails.

Rob

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I need more info about the undergrads. How long did it take them to witness the two attacks?  Were they looking for that behavior?  Did they have anything to gain by their observations? 

Semi

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I kinda like b too, so somewhat of a variation on that:  perhaps in
closer quarters lobsters are more territorial, therefore more aggressive
with food offerings of any type.  Have you tried other non-appetizing
offerings to see if they behave the same way? 

Also, I'm quite ignorant about crustaceans, including gender, so will
assume there are both male and female of the species.  So, are the
attacks on the sea hares primarily male? Female? Doesn't matter?

jeff

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