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Predators consume prey for energy. Predators that acquire prey and prey that avoid predation both increase their chances of survival and reproduction (i.e., fitness). Routine predator-prey interactions elicit mutual adaptations that improve predator offenses, such as claws, teeth, and speed, as well as prey defenses, including crypsis, aposematism, and mimicry. Thus, predator-prey interactions resemble an evolutionary arms race.
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Natural selection influences the frequencies of particular alleles and phenotypes within populations in several different ways. Primarily, natural selection can be directional, stabilizing, or disruptive. Directional selection favors one extreme trait and shifts the population towards that phenotype while selecting against individuals displaying alternate traits. Stabilizing selection favors an intermediate trait with a narrow range of variation. Deviation from the optimal phenotype towards an...
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When the fitness of a trait is influenced by how common it is (i.e., its frequency) relative to different traits within a population, this is referred to as frequency-dependent selection. Frequency-dependent selection may occur between species or within a single species. This type of selection can either be positive—with more common phenotypes having higher fitness—or negative, with rarer phenotypes conferring increased fitness.
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Manipulation of Color Patterns in Jumping Spiders for Use in Behavioral Experiments
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Does spatial variation in predation pressure modulate selection for aposematism?

S Tharanga Aluthwattha1,2, Rhett D Harrison3, Kithsiri B Ranawana4

  • 1Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden Chinese Academy of Sciences Mengla Yunnan China.

Ecology and Evolution
|September 26, 2017
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Aposematic signals, like those in toxic butterflies, vary in conspicuousness due to predation pressure. This variation explains signal diversity and the evolution of mimicry.

Keywords:
Danainaeconspicuousnessfitnessmimicrytoxicitywarning signals

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Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Animal Behavior

Background:

  • Aposematic signals, warning coloration in toxic organisms, are theorized to be conspicuous.
  • However, natural aposematic signals exhibit a wide range of conspicuousness, from bright to cryptic.
  • Existing theories fail to explain this variation in toxicity-conspicuousness relationships.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how predation pressure influences the fitness of aposematic signals with varying conspicuousness.
  • To understand the evolutionary maintenance of conspicuousness variation in toxic species.
  • To explore the role of predation pressure in the evolution of mimicry.

Main Methods:

  • Studied Danainae butterflies (Nymphalidae) and their mimics, which share similar toxicity but differ in conspicuousness.
  • Assessed avian attack rates across a gradient of background predation pressure.
  • Compared attack rates of models and mimics with varying signal conspicuousness.

Main Results:

  • Conspicuous signals were less attacked under low predation but more attacked under high predation.
  • Cryptic signals were more attacked under low predation but benefited from crypsis under high predation.
  • Mimics experienced higher attack rates than models and mimicked less-attacked model species.

Conclusions:

  • Predation pressure is a key factor modulating the fitness of aposematic signals, explaining conspicuousness variation.
  • This mechanism supports the evolution and maintenance of diverse aposematic signals and mimicry patterns.
  • It offers an alternative explanation for the gain and loss of mimicry in toxic species.