Nocturnal drift of mayfly nymphs as a post‐contact antipredator mechanism

Abstract

1. The predominantly nocturnal constrained drift of stream invertebrates is commonly regarded as a behaviour that avoids encounters with visually foraging fish in the water column. The alternative explanation, that drift peaks are caused by bottom‐feeding, nocturnal predators, has rarely been tested. 2. We examined these hypotheses by collecting invertebrate drift in five streams in northern Finland: one with brown trout (Salmotrutta, a drift‐feeding fish), one with alpine bullhead (Cottuspoecilopus, a benthic fish), one with both species, and two fishless streams. 3. Drift by Baetis mayflies was aperiodic or slightly diurnal in both fishless streams on all sampling occasions. In contrast, drift was nocturnal in streams with trout and, to a lesser extent, in the stream with bullhead. Non‐dipteran prey drifted mainly nocturnally in all streams with fish, whereas Diptera larvae were less responsive to the presence of fish. 4. In laboratory experiments, bullheads were night‐active, causing a much higher frequency of drift by touching Baetis at night than during the day. Thus, increased nocturnal drift may serve to avoid both visual predators (a pre‐contact response) and benthic fish (a post‐contact response). In streams with bottom‐feeding fish, nocturnal drift should be caused by increased drift by night rather than by reduced drift by day.