Quantifying the success of prey crypsis, aposematism, and evasiveness in avoiding predator attack.

ABSTRACT: Antipredator defenses typically act at distinct stages of the predation sequence-encounter, identification, approach, and subjugation. However, their effectiveness has rarely been quantified and compared simultaneously in wild predator-prey systems. We conducted a study in Peru, where we installed aviaries at two localities and recorded the responses of wild avian predators to three types of antipredator defenses-crypsis, aposematism, and evasiveness-expressed by three butterfly prey types. The study included both immature and adult birds from forest and urban environments, representing the present community of insectivorous birds. We tested the theoretical expectations that cryptic butterflies (Nymphalidae: Euptychiina) were rarely detected, aposematic Heliconius (Nymphalidae: Heliconiina

SUBMITTER: Linke D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12629670 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature