Looking through the predator’s eyes: another perspective in naïveté theory

Pereira, Larissa Strictar; Angulo‐Valencia, Mirtha Amanda; Occhi, Thiago Vinícius Trento; Padial, André Andrian; Vitule, Jean Ricardo Simões; Agostinho, Ângelo Antônio

doi:10.1007/s10530-019-01996-w

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 70 publications

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“…Alternatively, there are potential 'natural experiments' that could be leveraged to confirm the persistent, long-term effects of dietary conservatism, while examining its ecological implications beyond communication as well. Dietary conservatism seems to explain why predators selectively target native prey over invasive exotics, despite exotic prey being just as profitable and more numerous [49,50]. Tracking the fate of these invading exotic prey could offer a powerful validation of the long-term selection advantage enjoyed by novel prey types in the wild, and extend the relevance of predator dietary conservatism to biological invasions more generally.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2021

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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.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%