Sexual signals, risk of predation and escape behavior
Adults of many species display extravagant sexual signals during the reproductive season, apparently evolved as a means of attracting mates or repelling potential competitors, thereby inadvertently also attracting the attention of predators. Many studies have shown predation costs of sexual display....
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2011
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fthighwire:oai:open-archive.highwire.org:beheco:22/4/800 2023-05-15T13:00:45+02:00 Sexual signals, risk of predation and escape behavior Møller, Anders Pape Christiansen, Simon S. Mousseau, Timothy A. 2011-07-01 00:00:00.0 text/html http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/22/4/800 https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arr046 en eng Oxford University Press http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/22/4/800 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arr046 Copyright (C) 2011, International Society for Behavioral Ecology ORIGINAL ARTICLES TEXT 2011 fthighwire https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arr046 2016-11-16T17:34:56Z Adults of many species display extravagant sexual signals during the reproductive season, apparently evolved as a means of attracting mates or repelling potential competitors, thereby inadvertently also attracting the attention of predators. Many studies have shown predation costs of sexual display. Therefore, we should expect species with the most exaggerated signals to have evolved antipredator behavior that reduces or eliminates predation costs of sexual signaling but also to have evolved behavior that allows for escape from a predator once captured. We quantified 6 aspects of escape behavior in 2105 free-living birds belonging to 80 species when handled after capture for banding. Escape behavior was species specific as demonstrated by significant consistency in behavior among individuals. Escape behavior was significantly related to susceptibility to predation by cats Felis catus and goshawks Accipiter gentilis , showing that escape behavior is under current selection. Escape behavior was related to the ease of feather loss estimated in a previous study but also to the frequency of tailless individuals recorded in the field. Thus, escape behavior reported here was cross-validated against other aspects of antipredator behavior shown to reflect risk of predation. Aspects of escape behavior differed significantly between males and females (biting, fear screams, and feather loss). Sexually dichromatic species differed in escape behavior from monochromatic species by having a reduced frequency of fear screams and increased tonic immobility. These findings suggest that exposure to risk of predation has modified escape behavior in relation to sexual coloration. Text Accipiter gentilis HighWire Press (Stanford University) Behavioral Ecology 22 4 800 807 |
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HighWire Press (Stanford University) |
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English |
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ORIGINAL ARTICLES |
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ORIGINAL ARTICLES Møller, Anders Pape Christiansen, Simon S. Mousseau, Timothy A. Sexual signals, risk of predation and escape behavior |
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ORIGINAL ARTICLES |
description |
Adults of many species display extravagant sexual signals during the reproductive season, apparently evolved as a means of attracting mates or repelling potential competitors, thereby inadvertently also attracting the attention of predators. Many studies have shown predation costs of sexual display. Therefore, we should expect species with the most exaggerated signals to have evolved antipredator behavior that reduces or eliminates predation costs of sexual signaling but also to have evolved behavior that allows for escape from a predator once captured. We quantified 6 aspects of escape behavior in 2105 free-living birds belonging to 80 species when handled after capture for banding. Escape behavior was species specific as demonstrated by significant consistency in behavior among individuals. Escape behavior was significantly related to susceptibility to predation by cats Felis catus and goshawks Accipiter gentilis , showing that escape behavior is under current selection. Escape behavior was related to the ease of feather loss estimated in a previous study but also to the frequency of tailless individuals recorded in the field. Thus, escape behavior reported here was cross-validated against other aspects of antipredator behavior shown to reflect risk of predation. Aspects of escape behavior differed significantly between males and females (biting, fear screams, and feather loss). Sexually dichromatic species differed in escape behavior from monochromatic species by having a reduced frequency of fear screams and increased tonic immobility. These findings suggest that exposure to risk of predation has modified escape behavior in relation to sexual coloration. |
format |
Text |
author |
Møller, Anders Pape Christiansen, Simon S. Mousseau, Timothy A. |
author_facet |
Møller, Anders Pape Christiansen, Simon S. Mousseau, Timothy A. |
author_sort |
Møller, Anders Pape |
title |
Sexual signals, risk of predation and escape behavior |
title_short |
Sexual signals, risk of predation and escape behavior |
title_full |
Sexual signals, risk of predation and escape behavior |
title_fullStr |
Sexual signals, risk of predation and escape behavior |
title_full_unstemmed |
Sexual signals, risk of predation and escape behavior |
title_sort |
sexual signals, risk of predation and escape behavior |
publisher |
Oxford University Press |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/22/4/800 https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arr046 |
genre |
Accipiter gentilis |
genre_facet |
Accipiter gentilis |
op_relation |
http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/22/4/800 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arr046 |
op_rights |
Copyright (C) 2011, International Society for Behavioral Ecology |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arr046 |
container_title |
Behavioral Ecology |
container_volume |
22 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
800 |
op_container_end_page |
807 |
_version_ |
1766259247911272448 |