Responses of Hydra Oligactis to Temperature and Feeding Rate

If one is concerned with the mechanisms of adaptation to environmental disturbances on the non-genetic level, hydra are particularly appropriate for several reasons. First, the problem is somewhat simplified since the behavioral repertoire of hydra is severely limited, the morphology at least on a gross and light microscopy level is reasonably simple and a spectrum of responses ranging from the cellular to the behavioral can be recorded on genetically identical individuals. As a consequence of this simplicity it ought to be possible to catalogue the response of hydra to change in such a way that we can distinguish between the rapid and slower responses and get some sense of what the implications of each of these responses might be for the further adaptive capacities of the hydra themselves. The rationale for this type of inquiry is presented in Slobodkin and Rapoport (1974 and papers cited therein.