Snail Fear Gen and Cross Sensitivity

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.