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Nathalia X, Vinicius M, Danilo Brito R, Felipe G, Rodrigo W. The Influence of Substance Properties on Arthropod Chemical Defenses: A Meta-Analysis. J Chem Ecol 2024; 50:42-51. [PMID: 38133704 DOI: 10.1007/s10886-023-01457-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2023] [Revised: 08/04/2023] [Accepted: 10/02/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023]
Abstract
Among defenses against predation, chemical defenses are possibly the most studied. However, when addressing the effectiveness of those chemical defenses, previous studies did not include properties of the chemical substances themselves. Lipophilicity, for instance, may facilitate crossing membranes, and boiling point may define the duration of the substances in the air. Moreover, other variables may also be relevant: the predator taxon; the prey model chosen to conduct experiments; whether the prey is presented grouped or not in experiments; and whether the chemical defense is a mixture of many substances or only one. To understand how those factors influence chemical defenses' effectiveness, we conducted a multilevel meta-analysis with 43 studies (127 effect sizes), accounting for different types of dependence. We used Akaike Information Criterion (AICc) to select the best model. The model with the lowest AICc value included only the boiling point, which defines how quickly a chemical substance volatilizes. This model indicated that the most effective chemical defenses had lower boiling point values, i.e., higher volatility. Moreover, we did not find chemicals with very low boiling points, suggesting there might be an optimum range of volatility. Other models, including the intercept-only model, were also recovered among the best models, therefore further studies are needed to confirm the relationship between volatility and chemical defenses' effectiveness. Our results highlight the value of incorporating physicochemical properties in the ecological and evolutionary study of chemical defense.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ximenes Nathalia
- Programa de Pós-graduação em Zoologia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
- Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades, Laboratory of Sensory Ecology and Behavior of Arthropods, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
| | - Moraes Vinicius
- Laboratório de Taxonomia Ecologia e Interações de Aracnídeos, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, Brazil
| | | | - Gawryszewski Felipe
- Departamento de Zoologia, Evolutionary Ecology Laboratory, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF, Brazil
| | - Willemart Rodrigo
- Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
- Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades, Laboratory of Sensory Ecology and Behavior of Arthropods, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
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Chatelain P, Elias M, Fontaine C, Villemant C, Dajoz I, Perrard A. Müllerian mimicry among bees and wasps: a review of current knowledge and future avenues of research. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2023; 98:1310-1328. [PMID: 36994698 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12955] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2022] [Revised: 03/15/2023] [Accepted: 03/20/2023] [Indexed: 03/31/2023]
Abstract
Many bees and stinging wasps, or aculeates, exhibit striking colour patterns or conspicuous coloration, such as black and yellow stripes. Such coloration is often interpreted as an aposematic signal advertising aculeate defences: the venomous sting. Aposematism can lead to Müllerian mimicry, the convergence of signals among different species unpalatable to predators. Müllerian mimicry has been extensively studied, notably on Neotropical butterflies and poison frogs. However, although a very high number of aculeate species harbour putative aposematic signals, aculeates are under-represented in mimicry studies. Here, we review the literature on mimicry rings that include bee and stinging wasp species. We report over a hundred described mimicry rings, involving a thousand species that belong to 19 aculeate families. These mimicry rings are found all throughout the world. Most importantly, we identify remaining knowledge gaps and unanswered questions related to the study of Müllerian mimicry in aculeates. Some of these questions are specific to aculeate models, such as the impact of sociality and of sexual dimorphism in defence levels on mimicry dynamics. Our review shows that aculeates may be one of the most diverse groups of organisms engaging in Müllerian mimicry and that the diversity of aculeate Müllerian mimetic interactions is currently under-explored. Thus, aculeates represent a new and major model system to study the evolution of Müllerian mimicry. Finally, aculeates are important pollinators and the global decline of pollinating insects raises considerable concern. In this context, a better understanding of the impact of Müllerian mimicry on aculeate communities may help design strategies for pollinator conservation, thereby providing future directions for evolutionary research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul Chatelain
- Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences-Paris (iEES-Paris), Sorbonne Université, CNRS, IRD, INRAE, Université Paris Cité, UPEC, 4 Place Jussieu, Paris, 75005, France
- Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, Université des Antilles, CP 50, 57 rue Cuvier, Paris, 75005, France
| | - Marianne Elias
- Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, Université des Antilles, CP 50, 57 rue Cuvier, Paris, 75005, France
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Gamboa, Panama
| | - Colin Fontaine
- Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la conservation, CESCO UMR 7204, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, 43 rue Cuvier, Paris, 75005, France
| | - Claire Villemant
- Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, Université des Antilles, CP 50, 57 rue Cuvier, Paris, 75005, France
| | - Isabelle Dajoz
- Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences-Paris (iEES-Paris), Sorbonne Université, CNRS, IRD, INRAE, Université Paris Cité, UPEC, 4 Place Jussieu, Paris, 75005, France
- Université Paris Cité, 45 Rue des Saints-Pères, Paris, F-75006, France
| | - Adrien Perrard
- Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences-Paris (iEES-Paris), Sorbonne Université, CNRS, IRD, INRAE, Université Paris Cité, UPEC, 4 Place Jussieu, Paris, 75005, France
- Université Paris Cité, 45 Rue des Saints-Pères, Paris, F-75006, France
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He R, Pagani-Núñez E, Goodale E, Barnett CRA. Avian predators taste reject mimetic prey in relation to their signal reliability. Sci Rep 2022; 12:2334. [PMID: 35149707 PMCID: PMC8837650 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-05600-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2021] [Accepted: 01/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Aposematic organisms defend themselves through various means to increase their unprofitability to predators which they advertise with conspicuous warning signals. Predators learn to avoid aposematic prey through associative learning that leads to lower predation. However, when these visual signals become unreliable (e.g., through automimicry or Batesian mimicry), predators may switch from using visual signals to taste sampling prey to choose among them. In this experiment, we tested this possibility in a field experiment where we released a total of 4800 mealworm prey in two clusters consisting of either: (i) undefended prey (injected with water) and (ii) model-mimics (injected with either quinine sulphate [models] or water [mimics]). Prey were deployed at 12 sites, with the mimic frequency of the model-mimics ranging between 0 and 1 (at 0.2 intervals). We found that taste rejection peaked at moderate mimic frequencies (0.4 and 0.6), supporting the idea that taste sampling and rejection of prey is related to signal reliability and predator uncertainty. This is the first time that taste-rejection has been shown to be related to the reliability of prey signals in a mimetic prey system.
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Affiliation(s)
- R He
- Guangxi Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Conservation, College of Forestry, Guangxi University, Nanning, Guangxi, People's Republic of China
| | - E Pagani-Núñez
- Department of Health and Environmental Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China
| | - E Goodale
- Guangxi Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Conservation, College of Forestry, Guangxi University, Nanning, Guangxi, People's Republic of China.
| | - C R A Barnett
- Department of Zoology, Graduate School of Science, University of Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan.
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