Receiving behaviour is sensitive to risks from eavesdropping predators.

Area of Science:

• Behavioral Ecology
• Animal Communication
• Predator-Prey Interactions

Background:

• Conspicuous signals attract intended receivers but also unintended ones, like predators.
• Receivers of signals, not just signallers, face risks from eavesdropping predators.
• Understanding receiver costs is crucial for communication system evolution.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if house mice behaviorally respond to social scent signals considering predation risk.
• To determine how perceived predation risk influences the trade-off between social benefits and predation costs for signal receivers.
• To assess whether receivers bear a greater cost in communication systems than previously thought.

Main Methods:

• Presented house mice (Mus domesticus) with own scents (low social benefit) and intruder scents (high social benefit).
• Manipulated perceived predation risk by adding cat urine (high risk) or water (low risk).
• Measured receiving rates of social signals under different predation risk levels.

Main Results:

• Receiving rates for both own and intruder scents were high under low predation risk.
• Mice reduced receiving of both scent types when predation risk increased.
• Reduction in receiving was greater for own (low value) scent than intruder (high value) scent; signalling rates remained constant.

Conclusions:

• Mice behaviorally trade-off potential social benefits of scent signals against predation costs.
• Receiver risk significantly influences the dynamics of communication systems.
• The costs of communication may be disproportionately borne by receivers, a factor potentially underestimated in communication evolution.