DOI: 10.5061/dryad.6wwpzgn8b
title: Don't leave the past behind: Larval experience shapes pupal antipredator response in Aedes aegypti

description: Animals may use predation-risk experiences to improve their future
 antipredator behavior, thereby decreasing their risk of mortality through
 predation. Despite the fitness benefits, such behavioral carryovers of
 predation past may not be common in species with complex life cycles. In
 these species, each life stage is morphologically and physiologically
 distinct, and might be expected to evolve only to respond to the current
 threat level. In addition, major physiological changes might hamper
 behavioral carryover between stages, especially in holometabolous insects,
 where extensive tissue remodeling occurs between stages. We therefore
 investigated behavioral carryover in the holometabolous
 mosquito, Aedes aegypti. In a 2 x 2 experiment, we tested if the
 predation risk experienced by larvae (present/absent) carries over to
 affect how pupae behave in the presence or absence of predation cues. We
 manipulated the risk of predation experienced by larvae and investigated
 its influence on pupal antipredator behaviors. Pupae responded to the
 current presence or absence of predation cues by changing several
 components of their diving behavior, but how they responded depended on
 their experience of predators. We, therefore, found context-specific
 behavioral carryover from the larval to the pupal stage. The carryover was
 detectable under normal resource-limited conditions but not when food was
 abundant. Our study underscores the role of predation in the evolution of
 complex life cycles, emphasizing the significance of early experiences in
 influencing behavioral traits in subsequent life stages.
description: # Don't leave the past behind: Larval experience shapes pupal
 antipredator response in Aedes aegypti
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.6wwpzgn8b](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.6wwpzgn8b) ## Description of the data and file structure All the data sheets have the following columns: * 'block' = number of the experiment trial * 'video.sr.no.' = serial number of each video * 'treat' = larval growth condition, where 'T' = risk-experienced condition and 'C' = risk-naive condition * 'water' = behavioral assay environment, where 'cue' = immediate threat and 'con' = no immediate threat * 'fd' or 'food' = resource conditions, where 'LF' = resource-limited condition and 'HF' = resource-rich condition ###### #Spreadsheet: dive.csv 'date' = date on which the behaviour was recorded 'time'= time at which the behaviour was recorded 'totdive' = total number of dives exhibited by a pupa 'meddive' = median dive depth of a pupa; entries marked as 'NA' indicate zero dives, making it impossible to calculate a median dive depth 'cvdive' = coefficient of variation for dive depth (standard deviation/ mean); entries marked as 'NA' indicate zero or only one dive, rendering the coefficient of variation incalculable. ###### #Spreadsheet: space\_use.csv 'A' = number of instances or scans an individual was recorded at the surface  'M' = number of instances or scans an individual was recorded in the middle column 'L' = number of instances or scans an individual was recorded at the bottom layer 'total' = total number of instances recorded where the focal pupa was present in either A, M, or L (i.e., A + M + L). ###### #Spreadsheet: activity.csv date' = date on which the behaviour was recorded 'time'= time at which the behaviour was recorded 'pass_prop' = proportion of time each individual spends being passive