Deck 12: Antipredator Behavior

Question 1

Which of the following is NOT a feature of the chemical defense system of bombardier beetles?

A) Two benign chemicals exist in two separate glands; when combined, the new chemical becomes noxious.
B) The chemical defense is both acidic and can reach temperatures upwards of 100°C.
C) The chemicals are derived from the beetles' diet.
D) Beetles can aim the chemical spray very effectively.
E) The act of spraying the hot chemical is a derived trait.

Answer 1

The chemicals are derived from the beetles' diet.

Question 2

Which of the following hypotheses has NOT been proposed to explain tail flagging behavior?

A) increases group cohesion
B) announces to a predator that it has been sighted and should abandon its attack
C) functions primarily to appease dominant and secondarily as an antipredator tactic
D) informs the predator about the size of the prey group
E) warns conspecifics of potential dangers

Answer 2

announces to a predator that it has been sighted and should abandon its attack

Question 3

Mobbing refers to an antipredator tactic in which prey:

A) behave in an erratic manner so as to confuse the predator.
B) adopt cryptic coloration patterns in order to avoid attack.
C) retreat from the predator in large groups.
D) attack the predator either alone or in groups.
E) produce alarm calls to warn group members.

Answer 3

attack the predator either alone or in groups.

Question 4

Which of the following statements does NOT relate to antipredator behavior and defense against snakes in California ground squirrels?

A) Young squirrel pups have low serum-to-venom binding levels.
B) Serum-to-venom binding levels increase after the pups emerge from the burrow, which corresponds with an increase in snake predation risk.
C) Serum-to-venom binding levels in squirrel pups change only when the pups are exposed to snakes early in life.
D) High serum-to-venom binding levels indicate strong defenses against snakebites.
E) Squirrel pups emerge from their natal burrows when they are about forty days old.

Question 5

When terrestrial predation pressures from snakes and wasps are strong, the tadpoles of red-eyed tree frogs should be selected to:

A) hatch only when disturbed by a predator.
B) initiate poison production in order to deter predators.
C) hatch early in the season.
D) hatch later in the season.
E) hatch early if snake predation pressures are stronger than wasp predation pressures.

Question 6

Which of the following is NOT a strategy for avoiding predators?

A) crypsis
B) reduced sound production
C) choosing safe habitats
D) mobbing
E) performing fewer conspicuous behaviors

Question 7

A trade-off refers to the notion that:

A) predator and prey population sizes oscillate over time.
B) prey that approach predators experience low survival probabilities.
C) individual inspectors trade information about predators for foraging assistance.
D) animals cannot divide their time or energy among multiple activities.
E) time or energy dedicated to one activity cannot be used for other activities.

Question 8

Which of the following represents a direct fitness consequence of learning about predators?

A) decreased mortality rates
B) increased neurogenesis in the forebrain
C) decreased stress hormone levels
D) enhanced knowledge of the environmental landscape
E) increased vigilance behavior

Question 9

If differences in antipredator behavior exist between two populations of the same species inhabiting different environments, then we could conclude that:

A) different selection pressures drive differences in antipredator behavior.
B) different selection pressures and/or differences in past experience could explain interpopulational differences in antipredator behavior.
C) neither natural selection nor learning explain interpopulational differences in antipredator behavior.
D) a single predator species must exert different influences on the prey in each environment.
E) differences in environmental conditions affected the experiences that individuals obtained, and thus the antipredator tactics that were adopted.

Question 10

When should natural selection most strongly favor genetically coded predator recognition mechanisms?

A) in dynamics environments where predator types constantly change
B) in stable environments with a vast number of predator types
C) when predators can be identified easily by color patterns
D) when few predators exist at any one time but the types of predator constantly change
E) when the number of predatory threats are few and constant through time

Question 11

Vigilance entails keeping an eye out for predators at the expense of some other activity and qualifies as an antipredator tactic. Obtain a copy of Bednekoff's (1997) paper, "Mutualism among Safe, Selfish Sentinels: A Dynamic Game" (American Naturalist, vol. 150, pp. 373-392). Also, obtain a copy of Wright and colleagues' (2001) paper entitled "Safe Selfish Sentinels in a Cooperative Bird" (Journal of Animal Ecology, vol. 70, pp. 1070-1079). How do these two papers integrate what you learned in Chapter 10 (Cooperation) with concepts of antipredator behavior?

Question 12

Describe how natural selection shapes predator inspection behavior and the capacity to learn about predators in the example of the Dorset and Gwynedd minnows (Interpopulational Differences in Minnow Approach Behavior section of the chapter). Next, read the paper by Archard and colleagues (2012) titled "Correlated Behaviour and Stress Physiology in Fish Exposed to Different Levels of Predation Pressure" (Functional Ecology, vol. 26, pp. 637-645). Detail the findings of this paper, particularly with respect to how natural selection might have shaped exploratory behavior, activity levels, and stress responsiveness in populations derived from areas with different levels of predation risk. Are there any connections between stress hormones and learning? If so, develop at least two hypotheses exploring how selection on stress responsiveness might explain the results of the study on Dorset and Gwynedd minnows.

Question 13

Read Chapman and colleagues' (2007) paper, "Early Interactions with Adults Mediate the Development of Predator Defenses in Guppies" (Behavioral Ecology, vol. 19, pp. 87-93). How do the authors' results illuminate the powerful influence that early life social environments can have on the development of behavioral and morphological traits? Generate at least two hypotheses regarding the environmental conditions under which such developmental plasticity would be adaptive or maladaptive.

Question 14

Obtain a copy of Mirza and colleagues' (2001) paper entitled "Differential Responses of Male and Female Red Swordtails to Chemical Alarm Cues" (Journal of Fish Biology, vol. 59, pp. 716-728). Discuss this paper in terms of: (1) proximate mechanisms involved in the detection of predation risk, and (2) within-population differences in antipredator behavior.

Question 15

In 1973, Van Valen proposed what has been dubbed the Red Queen hypothesis, which describes, in part, the evolutionary arms races that occur between predator and prey. This moniker was derived from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, in which the Red Queen says to Alice that "it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place." That is, predator and prey are forced to evolve more complex hunting and antipredator tactics, respectively, but neither can better its opponent. With this in mind, read Bergstrom and Lachmann's (2003) paper, "The Red King Effect: When the Slowest Runner Wins the Coevolutionary Race" (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, vol. 100, pp. 593-598). Contrast the Red Queen and the Red King effects in terms of (1) the types of relationships that favor each effect, and (2) the rate of evolutionary change inherent in the arms race.