Publications

Detailed Information

Warning signals confer advantage to prey in competition with predators: bumblebees steal nests from insectivorous birds

Cited 13 time in Web of Science Cited 14 time in Scopus
Authors

Jablonski, Piotr G.; Cho, Hyun Jun; Song, Soo Rim; Kang, Chang Ku; Lee, Sang-im

Issue Date
2013-08
Publisher
Springer Verlag
Citation
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, Vol.67 No.8, pp.1259-1267
Abstract
Aposematic (warning) signals of prey help predators to recognize the defended distasteful or poisonous prey that should be avoided. The evolution of aposematism in the context of predation has been in the center of modern ecology for a long time. But, the possible roles of aposematic signals in other ecological contexts have been largely ignored. Here we address the role of aposematic signals in competition between prey and predators. Bumblebees use visual and auditory aposematic signals to warn predators about their defenses. For 2 years, we observed competition for nestboxes between chemically defended insects, Bombus ardens (and possibly also Bombus ignitus), and cavity nesting birds (Parus minor and Poecile varius). Bumblebees settled in 16 and 9 % of nestboxes (in 2010 and 2011 breeding seasons, respectively) that contained bird nests at the advanced stage of nest building or at the stage of egg laying. Presence of bumblebees prevented the birds from continuing the breeding activities in the nestboxes, while insects took over the birds' nests (a form of kleptoparasitism). Playback experiments showed that the warning buzz by bumblebees contributed to the success in ousting the birds from their nests. This demonstrates that aposematic signals may be beneficial also in the context of resource competition.
ISSN
0340-5443
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/10371/203070
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-013-1553-2
Files in This Item:
There are no files associated with this item.
Appears in Collections:

Related Researcher

  • College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
  • Department of Agricultural Biotechnology
Research Area Anti-predator adaptations in insects, Behavioural experiments on various subjects, Comparative studies using phylogenetic analysis

Altmetrics

Item View & Download Count

  • mendeley

Items in S-Space are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Share