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Potdar S, Dinakar M, Westerman EL. Behavioural changes in aposematic Heliconius melpomene butterflies in response to their predatory bird calls. Behav Processes 2024; 220:105071. [PMID: 38908610 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2024.105071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2024] [Revised: 06/16/2024] [Accepted: 06/17/2024] [Indexed: 06/24/2024]
Abstract
Prey-predator interactions have resulted in the evolution of many anti-predatory traits. One of them is the ability for prey to listen to predators and avoid them. Although prey anti-predatory behavioural responses to predator auditory cues are well described in a wide range of taxa, studies on whether butterflies change their behaviours in response to their predatory calls are lacking. Heliconius butterflies are unpalatable and form Müllerian mimicry rings as morphological defence strategies against their avian predators. Like many other butterflies in the Nymphalidae family, some Heliconius butterflies possess auditory organs, which are hypothesized to assist with predator detection. Here we test whether Heliconius melpomene change their behaviour in response to their predatory bird calls by observing the behaviour of male and female H. m. plessini exposed to calls of Heliconius avian predators: rufous-tailed jacamar, migratory Eastern kingbird, and resident tropical kingbird. We also exposed them to the calls of the toco toucan, a frugivorous bird as a control bird call, and an amplified greenhouse background noise as a noise control. We found that individuals changed their behaviour in response to jacamar calls only. Males increased their walking and fluttering behaviour, while females did not change their behaviour during the playback of the jacamar call. Intersexual behaviours like courtship, copulation, and abdomen lifting did not change in response to bird calls. Our findings suggest that despite having primary predatory defences like toxicity and being in a mimicry ring, H. m. plessini butterflies changed their behaviour in response to predator calls. Furthermore, this response was predator specific, as H. m. plesseni did not respond to either the Eastern kingbird or the tropical kingbird calls. This suggests that Heliconius butterflies may be able to differentiate predatory calls, and potentially the birds associated with those calls.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sushant Potdar
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA.
| | | | - Erica L Westerman
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA
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Zaguri M, Mogilevsky I, Raubenheimer D, Hawlena D. 'Dust you shall eat': The complex nutritional and functional considerations underlying a simple diet. Ecol Lett 2024; 27:e14414. [PMID: 38622965 DOI: 10.1111/ele.14414] [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: 10/23/2023] [Revised: 03/05/2024] [Accepted: 03/05/2024] [Indexed: 04/17/2024]
Abstract
Animals assimilate macronutrients and mineral nutrients in specific quantities and ratios to maximise fitness. To achieve this, animals must ingest different foods that contain the needed nutrients or facilitate the digestion of those nutrients. We explored how these multidimensional considerations affect the desert isopods (Hemilepistus reaumuri) curious food selection, using field and laboratory experiments. Wild isopods consumed three-fold more macronutrient-poor biological soil crust (BSC) than plant litter. Isopods tightly regulated macronutrient and calcium intake, but not phosphorus when eating the two natural foods and when artificial calcium and phosphorus sources substituted the BSC. Despite the equivalent calcium ingestion, isopods performed better when eating BSC compared to artificial foods. Isopods that consumed BSC sterilised by gamma-radiation ate more but grew slower than isopods that ate live BSC, implying that ingested microorganisms facilitate litter digestion. Our work highlights the need to reveal the multifaceted considerations that affect food-selection when exploring trophic-interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Moshe Zaguri
- Department of Entomology, Newe Ya'ar Research Center, Agricultural Research Organization (Volcani Institute), Ramat Yishay, Israel
- Risk-Management Ecology Lab, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Irit Mogilevsky
- Risk-Management Ecology Lab, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - David Raubenheimer
- Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Dror Hawlena
- Risk-Management Ecology Lab, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
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Torsekar VR, Lajmi A, Hawlena D. Prudent burrow-site selection in a landscape of fear. Biol Lett 2023; 19:20230271. [PMID: 37875158 PMCID: PMC10597674 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2023.0271] [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: 06/12/2023] [Accepted: 10/05/2023] [Indexed: 10/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Prey should select safer breeding sites over riskier sites of otherwise similar habitats. This preference, however, may differ between conspecifics of different competitive abilities if the costs of intraspecific competition overpower the benefits of breeding in a safer site. Our goal was to test this hypothesis by exploring the burrow-site selection of different-sized desert isopods (Hemilepistus reaumuri) near and away from a scorpion burrow. We found that larger females are more likely to occupy burrows than smaller females, regardless of whether these burrows were close or away from scorpion burrows. We also found that larger females stayed longer in safer burrows and that smaller females tended to stay longer in riskier sites even in the absence of direct competition, implying a prudent burrow-site selection. We found no association between male size and the tendency to occupy or to spend time in a burrow, regardless of whether these burrows were close or away from scorpion burrows. Our work highlights the need to consider intraspecific competition when exploring how predators regulate prey behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Viraj R. Torsekar
- Risk-Management Ecology Lab, Department of Ecology, Evolution & Behavior, The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
- Theoretical Ecology and Evolution Lab, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, India
| | - Aparna Lajmi
- Institute of Evolution, Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Dror Hawlena
- Risk-Management Ecology Lab, Department of Ecology, Evolution & Behavior, The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
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Torsekar VR, Zaguri M, Hawlena D. Predation risk regulates prey assortative mating by reducing the expected reproductive value of mates. Ecology 2023; 104:e3869. [PMID: 36088576 PMCID: PMC10078229 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3869] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2022] [Revised: 07/20/2022] [Accepted: 07/26/2022] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
Many animals exhibit size assortative mating (SAM), but how predation affects it remains largely unknown. We hypothesized that predation risk may turn prey less choosy, disrupting SAM, or reduce the expected reproductive value of mates, maintaining SAM but with different size ratio between mates. Using a manipulative field experiment, we found that desert isopods under risk of scorpion predation maintained SAM, but that males that choose and fight over females were on average smaller for a given female size. Less pairs were formed in risky sites, but there were no differences in female sizes and progeny number, size and age near and away from scorpion burrows. Our complementary behavioral experiments revealed that bigger males stayed longer near safe burrows, and won more male-male contests than smaller conspecifics. Our findings highlight that prey can anticipate future costs of predation and use this information to assess the expected reproductive value of mates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Viraj R Torsekar
- Risk-Management Ecology Lab, Department of Ecology, Evolution & Behavior, The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Moshe Zaguri
- Risk-Management Ecology Lab, Department of Ecology, Evolution & Behavior, The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Dror Hawlena
- Risk-Management Ecology Lab, Department of Ecology, Evolution & Behavior, The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
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Foffová H, Ćavar Zeljković S, Honěk A, Martinková Z, Tarkowski P, Saska P. Which Seed Properties Determine the Preferences of Carabid Beetle Seed Predators? INSECTS 2020; 11:insects11110757. [PMID: 33158042 PMCID: PMC7692740 DOI: 10.3390/insects11110757] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2020] [Revised: 10/16/2020] [Accepted: 11/02/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Simple Summary The carabid beetles are well known for the consumption of weed seeds in arable land, but how they choose the seeds is poorly known. In this work, we try to explain the patterns in preferences of 37 species of carabids based on eight seed properties of 28 species of seeds. Surprisingly, chemical properties of the seeds did not affect the preferences. Instead, preferences were driven mainly by seed structural properties. The importance of particular seed properties was also affected by the degree of predator specialization. Abstract Ground beetles are important invertebrate seed predators in temperate agro-ecosystems. However, there is a lack of information regarding which seed properties are important to carabids when they select seeds for consumption. Therefore, seed properties, such as size, shape, morphological defence, and chemical composition, were measured, and in addition to seed taxonomy and ecology, these data were used to explain carabid preferences. Carabid preferences were assessed using a multi-choice experiment with 28 species of weed seeds presented to 37 species of Carabidae. Multiple regression on distance matrices (MRM) was used to determine the importance of particular sets of seed properties for carabids. The analysis was conducted for the full set of carabids (37 species) as well as for subsets of species belonging to the tribes of Harpalini or Zabrini. For the complete set of species, seed dimensions, seed mass, taxonomy, plant strategy, and seed coat properties significantly explained carabid preferences (proportion of explained variance, R2 = 0.465). The model for Harpalini fit the data comparably well (R2 = 0.477), and seed dimensions, seed mass and seed coat properties were significant. In comparison to that for Harpalini, the model for Zabrini had much lower explanatory power (R2 = 0.248), and the properties that significantly affected the preferences were seed dimensions, seed mass, taxonomy, plant strategy, and seed coat properties. This result suggests that the seed traits that carabids respond to may be specific to taxonomic and likely relate to the degree of specialisation for seeds. This study contributes to understanding the mechanisms that determine the preferences of carabid beetles for seeds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hana Foffová
- Crop Research Institute, Functional Diversity in Agro-Ecosystems, Drnovská 507, Ruzyně, 161 06 Praha 6, Czech Republic; (A.H.); (Z.M.); (P.S.)
- Department of Ecology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Kamýcká 129, Suchdol, 165 00 Praha, Czech Republic
- Correspondence:
| | - Sanja Ćavar Zeljković
- Centre of the Region Haná for Biotechnological and Agricultural Research, Department of Genetic Resources for Vegetables, Medicinal and Special Plants, Crop Research Institute, Šlechtitelů 29, 783 71 Olomouc, Czech Republic; (S.Ć.Z.); (P.T.)
- Centre of Region Haná for Biotechnological and Agricultural Research, Department of Phytochemistry, Palacky University, Šlechtitelů 27, 783 71 Olomouc, Czech Republic
| | - Alois Honěk
- Crop Research Institute, Functional Diversity in Agro-Ecosystems, Drnovská 507, Ruzyně, 161 06 Praha 6, Czech Republic; (A.H.); (Z.M.); (P.S.)
| | - Zdenka Martinková
- Crop Research Institute, Functional Diversity in Agro-Ecosystems, Drnovská 507, Ruzyně, 161 06 Praha 6, Czech Republic; (A.H.); (Z.M.); (P.S.)
| | - Petr Tarkowski
- Centre of the Region Haná for Biotechnological and Agricultural Research, Department of Genetic Resources for Vegetables, Medicinal and Special Plants, Crop Research Institute, Šlechtitelů 29, 783 71 Olomouc, Czech Republic; (S.Ć.Z.); (P.T.)
- Centre of Region Haná for Biotechnological and Agricultural Research, Department of Phytochemistry, Palacky University, Šlechtitelů 27, 783 71 Olomouc, Czech Republic
| | - Pavel Saska
- Crop Research Institute, Functional Diversity in Agro-Ecosystems, Drnovská 507, Ruzyně, 161 06 Praha 6, Czech Republic; (A.H.); (Z.M.); (P.S.)
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