The evolutionary ecology of decorating behaviour

Ruxton, Graeme D.; Stevens, Martin

doi:10.1098/rsbl.2015.0325

Cited by 39 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 42 publications

(48 reference statements)

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“…Ruxton & Stevens (, p. 2) reviewed the literature on decorating by animals, and define a decorator as ‘an organism that (by means of specialist behaviour and/or morphology that has been favoured by selection for that purpose) accumulates and retains environmental material that becomes attached to the exterior of the decorator’. For our purposes it is important to note in this definition that decoration can involve behaviour but need not.…”

Section: Decoration and Background Modificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The key role of behaviour in animal camouflage

2018

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Animal camouflage represents one of the most important ways of preventing (or facilitating) predation. It attracted the attention of the earliest evolutionary biologists, and today remains a focus of investigation in areas ranging from evolutionary ecology, animal decision-making, optimal strategies, visual psychology, computer science, to materials science. Most work focuses on the role of animal morphology per se, and its interactions with the background in affecting detection and recognition. However, the behaviour of organisms is likely to be crucial in affecting camouflage too, through background choice, body orientation and positioning; and strategies of camouflage that require movement. A wealth of potential mechanisms may affect such behaviours, from imprinting and self-assessment to genetics, and operate at several levels (species, morph, and individual). Over many years there have been numerous studies investigating the role of behaviour in camouflage, but to date, no effort to synthesise these studies and ideas into a coherent framework. Here, we review key work on behaviour and camouflage, highlight the mechanisms involved and implications of behaviour, discuss the importance of this in a changing world, and offer suggestions for addressing the many important gaps in our understanding of this subject.

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Section: Decoration and Background Modificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The key role of behaviour in animal camouflage

2018

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“…Many animals actively accumulate and attach environmental materials to their exterior (Ruxton & Stevens, 2015). For example, rodents apply the shed skin of snakes to their fur, crabs carry coconut shells, assassin bugs carry carcass of their ant prey, and caddisfly decorate their cases by attaching debris (Brandt & Mahsberg, 2002; Clucas et al , 2008; Hultgren & Stachowicz, 2008; Ferry et al , 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bagworm decorations are an anti-predatory structure

Khan

2019

Preprint

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AbstractMany animals decorate their exterior with environmental materials and these decorations are predicted to increase their survival. The adaptive significance of these decorations, however, has seldomly been tested experimentally under field conditions. Here, I studied the anti-predatory functions of the decoration (bag) of a bagworm moth, Eumeta crameri against their natural predator, Oecophylla smaragdina, the Asian weaver ant. I experimentally tested if bag removal from caterpillars resulted in more predation than bagged caterpillar under field conditions, which would support the hypothesis that bags are selected to protect the caterpillars against their predators. In support of that, I showed that caterpillars without a bag were attacked, killed and taken to ants’ nest significantly more than bagged caterpillars. My study provides rare experimental evidence for anti-predatory functions of the decoration. My study suggests that decorating behaviour has evolved in animals as an anti-predatory defence mechanism.

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“…Modification of backgrounds in order to enhance camouflage is a distinct strategy from background selection and a further potential route to concealment. Numerous species decorate their own bodies with elements of the background to conceal themselves (Ruxton & Stevens, ), such as blue‐footed boobys Sula nebouxii that cake their eggs with mud (Mayani‐Parás, Kilner, Stoddard, Rodríguez, & Drummond, ), caddis fly and bagworm moth larvae that construct cases around their bodies, and crustacea that attach sediment (Lee, Parra‐Velandia, Ng, & Todd, ) or seaweed to their carapaces (Hultgren & Stachowicz, ), thus changing their own appearance. However, background modification refers instead to cases where animals change the appearance of their surroundings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nest covering in plovers: How modifying the visual environment influences egg camouflage

Troscianko

Wilson‐Aggarwal

Spottiswoode

et al. 2016

Ecology and Evolution

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Camouflage is one of the most widespread antipredator defences, and its mechanistic basis has attracted considerable interest in recent years. The effectiveness of camouflage depends on the interaction between an animal's appearance and its background. Concealment can therefore be improved by changes to an animal's own appearance, by behaviorally selecting an optimal background, or by modifying the background to better match the animal's own appearance. Research to date has largely focussed on the first of these mechanisms, whereas there has been little work on the second and almost none on the third. Even though a number of animal species may potentially modify their environment to improve individual‐specific camouflage, this has rarely if ever been quantitatively investigated, or its adaptive value tested. Kittlitz's plovers (Charadrius pecuarius) use material (stones and vegetation) to cover their nests when predators approach, providing concealment that is independent of the inflexible appearance of the adult or eggs, and that can be adjusted to suit the local surrounding background. We used digital imaging and predator vision modeling to investigate the camouflage properties of covered nests, and whether their camouflage affected their survival. The plovers' nest‐covering materials were consistent with a trade‐off between selecting materials that matched the color of the eggs, while resulting in poorer nest pattern and contrast matching to the nest surroundings. Alternatively, the systematic use of materials with high‐contrast and small‐pattern grain sizes could reflect a deliberate disruptive coloration strategy, whereby high‐contrast material breaks up the telltale outline of the clutch. No camouflage variables predicted nest survival. Our study highlights the potential for camouflage to be enhanced by background modification. This provides a flexible system for modifying an animal's conspicuousness, to which the main limitation may be the available materials rather than the animal's appearance.

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The evolutionary ecology of decorating behaviour

Cited by 39 publications

References 42 publications

The key role of behaviour in animal camouflage

The key role of behaviour in animal camouflage

Bagworm decorations are an anti-predatory structure

Nest covering in plovers: How modifying the visual environment influences egg camouflage

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