Conspicuous animal signals avoid the cost of predation by being intermittent or novel: confirmation in the wild using hundreds of robotic prey

Social animals are expected to face a trade-off between producing a signal that is detectible by mates and rivals, but not obvious to predators. This trade-off is fundamental for understanding the design of many animal signals, and is often the lens through which the evolution of alternative communi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Indraneil, Das, Terry J., Ord, Katrina, Blazek, Thomas E., White
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Royal Society Publishing 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/35444/1/575-%20Ord%20et%20al.%20%28Draco%20robotic%29.pdf
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/35444/
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rspb
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.0706
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Institution: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
Language: English
id my.unimas.ir.35444
record_format eprints
spelling my.unimas.ir.354442023-03-30T03:58:10Z http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/35444/ Conspicuous animal signals avoid the cost of predation by being intermittent or novel: confirmation in the wild using hundreds of robotic prey Indraneil, Das Terry J., Ord Katrina, Blazek Thomas E., White Q Science (General) QH Natural history QL Zoology Social animals are expected to face a trade-off between producing a signal that is detectible by mates and rivals, but not obvious to predators. This trade-off is fundamental for understanding the design of many animal signals, and is often the lens through which the evolution of alternative communication strategies is viewed. We have a reasonable working knowledge of how conspecifics detect signals under different conditions, but how predators exploit conspicuous communication of prey is complex and hard to predict. We quantified predation on 1566 robotic lizard prey that performed a conspicuous visual display, possessed a conspicuous ornament or remained cryptic. Attacks by free-ranging predators were consistent across two contrasting ecosystems and showed robotic prey that performed a conspicuous display were equally likely to be attacked as those that remained cryptic. Furthermore, predators avoided attacking robotic prey with a fixed, highly visible ornament that was novel at both locations. These data show that it is prey familiarity—not conspicuousness—that determine predation risk. These findings replicated across different predator–prey communities not only reveal how conspicuous signals might evolve in high predation environments, but could help resolve the paradox of aposematism and why some exotic species avoid predation when invading new areas. Royal Society Publishing 2021-06-06 Article PeerReviewed text en http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/35444/1/575-%20Ord%20et%20al.%20%28Draco%20robotic%29.pdf Indraneil, Das and Terry J., Ord and Katrina, Blazek and Thomas E., White (2021) Conspicuous animal signals avoid the cost of predation by being intermittent or novel: confirmation in the wild using hundreds of robotic prey. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 288. pp. 1-6. ISSN 0962-8452 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rspb https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.0706
institution Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
building Centre for Academic Information Services (CAIS)
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
content_source UNIMAS Institutional Repository
url_provider http://ir.unimas.my/
language English
topic Q Science (General)
QH Natural history
QL Zoology
spellingShingle Q Science (General)
QH Natural history
QL Zoology
Indraneil, Das
Terry J., Ord
Katrina, Blazek
Thomas E., White
Conspicuous animal signals avoid the cost of predation by being intermittent or novel: confirmation in the wild using hundreds of robotic prey
description Social animals are expected to face a trade-off between producing a signal that is detectible by mates and rivals, but not obvious to predators. This trade-off is fundamental for understanding the design of many animal signals, and is often the lens through which the evolution of alternative communication strategies is viewed. We have a reasonable working knowledge of how conspecifics detect signals under different conditions, but how predators exploit conspicuous communication of prey is complex and hard to predict. We quantified predation on 1566 robotic lizard prey that performed a conspicuous visual display, possessed a conspicuous ornament or remained cryptic. Attacks by free-ranging predators were consistent across two contrasting ecosystems and showed robotic prey that performed a conspicuous display were equally likely to be attacked as those that remained cryptic. Furthermore, predators avoided attacking robotic prey with a fixed, highly visible ornament that was novel at both locations. These data show that it is prey familiarity—not conspicuousness—that determine predation risk. These findings replicated across different predator–prey communities not only reveal how conspicuous signals might evolve in high predation environments, but could help resolve the paradox of aposematism and why some exotic species avoid predation when invading new areas.
format Article
author Indraneil, Das
Terry J., Ord
Katrina, Blazek
Thomas E., White
author_facet Indraneil, Das
Terry J., Ord
Katrina, Blazek
Thomas E., White
author_sort Indraneil, Das
title Conspicuous animal signals avoid the cost of predation by being intermittent or novel: confirmation in the wild using hundreds of robotic prey
title_short Conspicuous animal signals avoid the cost of predation by being intermittent or novel: confirmation in the wild using hundreds of robotic prey
title_full Conspicuous animal signals avoid the cost of predation by being intermittent or novel: confirmation in the wild using hundreds of robotic prey
title_fullStr Conspicuous animal signals avoid the cost of predation by being intermittent or novel: confirmation in the wild using hundreds of robotic prey
title_full_unstemmed Conspicuous animal signals avoid the cost of predation by being intermittent or novel: confirmation in the wild using hundreds of robotic prey
title_sort conspicuous animal signals avoid the cost of predation by being intermittent or novel: confirmation in the wild using hundreds of robotic prey
publisher Royal Society Publishing
publishDate 2021
url http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/35444/1/575-%20Ord%20et%20al.%20%28Draco%20robotic%29.pdf
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/35444/
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rspb
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.0706
_version_ 1762396689356816384