van Bergen Erik, Beldade Patrícia
Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência Oeiras Portugal.
Current address: Research Centre for Ecological Change, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences University of Helsinki Helsinki Finland.
Evol Lett. 2019 Apr 10;3(3):313-320. doi: 10.1002/evl3.113. eCollection 2019 Jun.
Effective anti-predatory strategies typically require matching appearance and behavior in prey, and there are many compelling examples of behavioral repertoires that enhance the effectiveness of morphological defenses. When protective adult morphology is induced by developmental environmental conditions predictive of future predation risk, adult behavior should be adjusted accordingly to maximize predator avoidance. While behavior is typically strongly affected by the adult environment, developmental plasticity in adult behavior-mediated by the same pre-adult environmental cues that affect morphology-could ensure an effective match between anti-predatory morphology and behavior. The coordination of environmentally induced responses may be especially important in populations exposed to predictable environmental fluctuations (e.g., seasonality). Here, we studied early and late life environmental effects on a suite of traits expected to work together for effective crypsis. We focused on wing color and background color preference in , a model of developmental plasticity that relies on crypsis as a seasonal strategy for predator avoidance. Using a full-factorial design, we disentangled effects of developmental and adult ambient temperature on both appearance and behavior. We showed that developmental conditions affect both adult color and color preference, with temperatures that simulate natural dry season conditions leading to browner butterflies with a perching preference for brown backgrounds. This effect was stronger in females, especially when butterflies were tested at lower ambient temperatures. In contrast to the expectation that motionlessness enhances crypsis, we found no support for our hypothesis that the browner dry-season butterflies would be less active. We argue that the integration of developmental plasticity for morphological and behavioral traits might improve the effectiveness of seasonal anti-predatory strategies.
有效的反捕食策略通常需要猎物在外观和行为上进行匹配，并且有许多令人信服的行为模式示例，这些行为模式增强了形态防御的有效性。当发育环境条件预示未来的捕食风险时，会诱导出具有保护作用的成虫形态，成虫的行为也应相应调整，以最大程度地避免被捕食。虽然行为通常受到成虫环境的强烈影响，但由影响形态的相同成虫前环境线索介导的成虫行为发育可塑性，可以确保反捕食形态与行为之间的有效匹配。在面临可预测的环境波动（如季节性变化）的种群中，环境诱导反应的协调可能尤为重要。在这里，我们研究了生命早期和晚期环境对一系列预期协同发挥有效拟态作用的性状的影响。我们聚焦于一种发育可塑性模型中的翅色和背景颜色偏好，该模型依靠拟态作为季节性的避敌策略。我们采用全因子设计，剖析了发育温度和成虫环境温度对外观和行为的影响。我们发现，发育条件会影响成虫的颜色和颜色偏好，模拟自然旱季条件的温度会使蝴蝶翅膀颜色更偏棕色，且它们更倾向于栖息在棕色背景上。这种影响在雌性蝴蝶中更为明显，尤其是当蝴蝶在较低的环境温度下接受测试时。与静止不动能增强拟态效果的预期相反，我们没有找到证据支持我们的假设，即翅膀颜色更偏棕色的旱季蝴蝶活动会更少。我们认为，形态和行为性状发育可塑性的整合可能会提高季节性反捕食策略的有效性。
