Cry-wolf signals emerging from coevolutionary feedbacks in a tritrophic system.

ABSTRACT: For a communication system to be stable, senders should convey honest information. Providing dishonest information, however, can be advantageous to senders, which imposes a constraint on the evolution of communication systems. Beyond single populations and bitrophic systems, one may ask whether stable communication systems can evolve in multitrophic systems. Consider cross-species signalling where herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) attract predators to reduce the damage from arthropod herbivores. Such plant signals may be honest and help predators to identify profitable prey/plant types via HIPV composition and to assess prey density via the amount of HIPVs. There could be selection for dishonest signals that attract predators for protection from possible future herbivory. Recently,

SUBMITTER: Yamauchi A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4650166 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature