Search results for "predator-prey interaction"
showing 10 items of 30 documents
Olfactory cues and the value of information : Voles interpret cues differently based on recent predator encounters
2018
Prey strategically respond to the risk of predation by varying their behavior while balancing the tradeoffs of food and safety. We present here an experiment that tests the way the same indirect cues of predation risk are interpreted by bank voles, Myodes glareolus, as the game changes through exposure to a caged weasel. Using optimal patch use, we asked wild-caught voles to rank the risk they perceived. We measured their response to olfactory cues in the form of weasel bedding, a sham control in the form of rabbit bedding, and an odor-free control. We repeated the interviews in a chronological order to test the change in response, i.e., the changes in the value of the information. We found…
Research data supporting "Social learning within and across predator species reduces attacks on novel aposematic prey"
2019
This data is from the experiment that investigated how wild-caught blue tits and great tits use conspecific and heterospecific information about unpalatable prey, published at the Journal of Animal Ecology (2020). The experiment was conducted at the Konnevesi Research Station from October to December 2017. Sheet 1 (“Main experiment”) contains data from the main avoidance learning experiment. Sheets 2 (“Symbol preference blue tits”) and 3 ("Symbol visibility blue tits") contain data of blue tits' symbol choices in initial preference and visibility tests.
Not just the sum of its parts : Geographic variation and nonadditive effects of pyrazines in the chemical defence of an aposematic moth
2022
Chemical defences often vary within and between populations both in quantity and quality, which is puzzling if prey survival is dependent on the strength of the defence. We investigated the within- and between-population variability in chemical defence of the wood tiger moth (Arctia plantaginis). The major components of its defences, SBMP (2-sec-butyl-3-methoxypyrazine) and IBMP (2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine), are volatiles that deter bird attacks. We hypothesized that (1) variation in the chemical defences of male wood tiger moths reflects the local predation pressure; (2) observed differences in quantity and quality of defence among populations have a genetic basis; and (3) increasing con…
Colour alone matters : no predator generalization among morphs of an aposematic moth
2018
Local warning colour polymorphism, frequently observed in aposematic organisms, is evolutionarily puzzling. This is because variation in aposematic signals is expected to be selected against due to predators' difficulties associating several signals with a given unprofitable prey. One possible explanation for the existence of such variation is predator generalization, which occurs when predators learn to avoid one form and consequently avoid other sufficiently similar forms, relaxing selection for monomorphic signals. We tested this hypothesis by exposing the three different colour morphs of the aposematic wood tiger moth, Arctia plantaginis, existing in Finland to local wild-caught predato…
Multimodal Aposematic Defenses Through the Predation Sequence
2021
Aposematic organisms warn predators of their unprofitability using a combination of defenses, including visual warning signals, startling sounds, noxious odors, or aversive tastes. Using multiple lines of defense can help prey avoid predators by stimulating multiple senses and/or by acting at different stages of predation. We tested the efficacy of three lines of defense (color, smell, taste) during the predation sequence of aposematic wood tiger moths (Arctia plantaginis) using blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) predators. Moths with two hindwing phenotypes (genotypes: WW/Wy = white, yy = yellow) were manipulated to have defense fluid with aversive smell (methoxypyrazines), body tissues with a…
Evolution of signal diversity: predator-prey interactions and the maintenance of warning colour polymorphism in the wood tiger moth Arctia plantaginis
2017
Aposematic organisms avoid predation by advertising defences with warning signals. The theory of aposematism predicts warning signal uniformity, yet variation in warning coloration is widespread. The chemically defended wood tiger moth Arctia plantaginis shows both geographic variation and local polymorphism in warning coloration. In this thesis, I studied whether predation by local avian predators is driving the evolution of wood tiger moth warning colours. The close relatives of the wood tiger moth designated here to genus Arctia do not show similar colour polymorphism. The wood tiger moth is thus apparently under evolutionary radiation and provides a natural laboratory for observing curr…
Influence of colour, smell and taste on the survival of the wood tiger moth (Arctia plantaginis) adults during predation event
2021
Saalistajien torjumiseksi saalis voi käyttää erilaisia puolustusmekanismeja, jotka stimuloivat useita eri aisteja (ts. multimodaalista signalointia). Esimerkiksi aposemaattiset eliöt puolustautuvat varoitussignaalin lisäksi sekundaarisella puolustuksella. Tässä tutkimuksessa keskityttiin siihen, kuinka täpläsiilikkään (Arctia plantaginis) väritys (genotyypit WW, Wy ovat valkoisia ja yy keltaisia), haju (metoksipyratsiinista) ja maku (pyrrolitsidiinialkaloidista) toimivat puolustuksena lintusaalistajien hyökkäyksiä vastaan. Linnuille tarjottiin kummankin värisiä eläviä siilikkäitä, joita oli manipuloitu niin, että niillä oli joko hajua, makua tai molempia näistä. Näin pystyttiin tutkimaan ku…
Multimodal Aposematic Signals and Their Emerging Role in Mate Attraction
2018
Behavioural, ecological, and evolutionary aspects of diversity in frog colour patterns
2017
The role of colours and colour patterns in behavioural ecology has been extensively studied in a variety of contexts and taxa, while almost overlooked in many others. For decades anurans have been the focus of research on acoustic signalling due to the prominence of vocalisations in their communication. Much less attention has been paid to the enormous diversity of colours, colour patterns, and other types of putative visual signals exhibited by frogs. With the exception of some anecdotal observations and studies, the link between colour patterns and the behavioural and evolutionary ecology of anurans had not been addressed until approximately two decades ago. Since then, there has been eve…
Multimodal Aposematic Signals and Their Emerging Role in Mate Attraction
2018
Chemically defended animals often display conspicuous color patterns that predators learn to associate with their unprofitability and subsequently avoid. Such animals (i.e., aposematic), deter predators by stimulating their visual and chemical sensory channels. Hence, aposematism is considered to be “multimodal.” The evolution of warning signals (and to a lesser degree their accompanying chemical defenses) is fundamentally linked to natural selection by predators. Lately, however, increasing evidence also points to a role of sexual selection shaping warning signal evolution. One of the species in which this has been shown is the wood tiger moth, Arctia plantaginis, which we here put forward…