Flexibility in assessment of prey cues: frog-eating bats and frog calls

被引:61
作者
Page, RA [1 ]
Ryan, MJ
机构
[1] Univ Texas, Sect Integrat Biol, Austin, TX 78712 USA
[2] Smithsonian Trop Res Inst, Balboa, Panama
关键词
behavioural flexibility; predator-prey interactions; reversal learning; eavesdropping; Trachops cirrhosus; Physalaemus pustulosus;
D O I
10.1098/rspb.2004.2998
中图分类号
Q [生物科学];
学科分类号
07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;
摘要
Predators use cues associated with their prey to assess prey quality and to avoid consuming poisonous prey. Considerable attention has been given to predators' use of aposematic cues to assess prey quality, but little is known about predators that eavesdrop on prey cues that are not intended for them. Here we investigate the prey-cue/prey-quality associations of a predator that eavesdrops on the sexual advertisement signals of its prey. Stability is expected in prey-cue/prey-quality associations when mistakes in prey assessment are lethal. Conversely, flexibility is possible when mistakes are less costly. Predators that must respond to temporal and spatial fluctuations in prey availability should be more flexible in their assessment of prey quality. Given these predictions, we examined flexibility in the ability of wild-caught bats to reverse prey-cue/prey-quality associations for a preferred prey and a poisonous one. We found that the predatory bat, Trachops cirrhosus, has a heretofore undescribed ability to reverse its evaluations of the cues that signal preferred prey.
引用
收藏
页码:841 / 847
页数:7
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