PREDATOR-INDUCED DEFENSE-MECHANISMS IN PROTOZOA

Ciliates offer unique opportunities to study prey-predator relationships in the laboratory due to their ease of cultivation. This is particularly true for predator-induced defenses, which are ecologically interesting feedback mechanisms that result in damping population oscillations of both prey and predators and foster coexistence. The studies with ciliates have already led to the isolation of two of the predator-released signal substances that bring about defensive responses in prey organisms. The induced cell transformations, however, merit study also for their own sake because of their developmental implications.