IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v415y2002i6872d10.1038_415609a.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Visual predators select for crypticity and polymorphism in virtual prey

Author

Listed:
  • Alan B. Bond

    (University of Nebraska)

  • Alan C. Kamil

    (University of Nebraska
    University of Nebraska)

Abstract

Cryptically coloured animals commonly occur in several distinct pattern variants. Such phenotypic diversity may be promoted by frequency-dependent predation, in which more abundant variants are attacked disproportionately often, but the hypothesis has never been explicitly tested. Here we report the first controlled experiment on the effects of visual predators on prey crypticity and phenotypic variance, in which blue jays (Cyanocitta cristata) searched for digital moths on computer monitors. Moth phenotypes evolved via a genetic algorithm in which individuals detected by the jays were much less likely to reproduce. Jays often failed to detect atypical cryptic moths, confirming frequency-dependent selection and suggesting the use of searching images, which enhance the detection of common prey. Over successive generations, the moths evolved to become significantly harder to detect, and they showed significantly greater phenotypic variance than non-selected or frequency-independent selected controls.

Suggested Citation

  • Alan B. Bond & Alan C. Kamil, 2002. "Visual predators select for crypticity and polymorphism in virtual prey," Nature, Nature, vol. 415(6872), pages 609-613, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:415:y:2002:i:6872:d:10.1038_415609a
    DOI: 10.1038/415609a
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/415609a
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/415609a?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Joanna R Hall & Roland Baddeley & Nicholas E Scott-Samuel & Adam J Shohet & Innes C Cuthill, 2017. "Camouflaging moving objects: crypsis and masquerade," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 28(5), pages 1248-1255.
    2. van Leeuwen, E. & Jansen, V.A.A., 2010. "Evolutionary consequences of a search image," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 49-55.
    3. Ossi Nokelainen & Sanni A. Silvasti & Sharon Y. Strauss & Niklas Wahlberg & Johanna Mappes, 2024. "Predator selection on phenotypic variability of cryptic and aposematic moths," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    4. Callum Duffield & Christos C Ioannou, 2017. "Marginal predation: do encounter or confusion effects explain the targeting of prey group edges?," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 28(5), pages 1283-1292.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:415:y:2002:i:6872:d:10.1038_415609a. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.