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The protective value of a defensive display varies with the experience of wild predators
- Source :
- Scientific Reports, Vol 9, Iss 1, Pp 1-8 (2019), Scientific Reports
- Publication Year :
- 2019
- Publisher :
- Nature Publishing Group, 2019.
-
Abstract
- Predation has driven the evolution of diverse adaptations for defence among prey, and one striking example is the deimatic display. While such displays can resemble, or indeed co-occur with, aposematic ‘warning’ signals, theory suggests deimatic displays may function independently of predator learning. The survival value of deimatic displays against wild predators has not been tested before. Here we used the mountain katydid Acripeza reticulata to test the efficacy of a putative deimatic display in the wild. Mountain katydids have a complex defence strategy; they are camouflaged at rest, but reveal a striking red-, blue-, and black-banded abdomen when attacked. We presented live katydids to sympatric (experienced) and allopatric (naive) natural predators, the Australian magpie Cracticus tibicen, and observed bird reactions and katydid behaviors and survival during repeated interactions. The efficacy of the katydids’ defence differed with predator experience. Their survival was greatest when faced with naïve predators, which provided clear evidence of the protective value of the display. In contrast, katydid survival was consistently less likely when facing experienced predators. Our results suggest that sympatric predators have learned to attack and consume mountain katydids despite their complex defense, and that their post-attack display can be an effective deterrent, particularly against naïve predators. These results suggest that deimatism does not require predator learning to afford protection, but that a predator can learn to expect the display and subsequently avoid it or ignore it. That sympatric predators learn to ignore the defense is a possible explanation for the mountain katydid’s counter-intuitive behavior of revealing warning colors only after tactile stimuli from predator attack.
- Subjects :
- 0301 basic medicine
Value (ethics)
Allopatric speciation
Zoology
lcsh:Medicine
Aposematism
eläinten käyttäytyminen
Article
Predation
Gryllidae
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Animals
puolustusmekanismit (biologia)
Australian magpie
lcsh:Science
Predator
Multidisciplinary
Behavior, Animal
defensive display
biology
lcsh:R
Australia
behavioural ecology
hepokatit
biology.organism_classification
katydids
030104 developmental biology
Sympatric speciation
Predatory Behavior
Predator attack
lcsh:Q
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 20452322
- Volume :
- 9
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Scientific Reports
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....b9b2977401ce3df0b88385297fd78f0c