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Bat predation and the evolution of leks in acoustic moths

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Abstract

Theories of lek evolution generally invoke enhanced mating success experienced by males signalling in aggregations. Reduced predation has also been acknowledged as a potential factor driving lek formation, but its role is more ambiguous. Although lekking is a complex behaviour, few empirical studies have investigated the role of both claims. We studied the potential pressures imposed by mating success and predation in an acoustic moth, Achroia grisella, in which males gather in leks and broadcast a calling song attractive to females. We exploited the ability to manipulate the distribution of singing males in laboratory arenas to create different-sized leks and tested female preferences for these aggregations. Because A. grisella are vulnerable to predation by bats while in flight and on the substrate, we also tested the responses of a potential predator, Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, a bat species that feeds on moths, to the experimental leks. We found that the per capita attractiveness of A. grisella males to females rose with increasing lek size. R. ferrumequinum also oriented toward experimental A. grisella leks, but this attraction did not increase at larger leks. Thus, a male’s per capita exposure to predation risk declined as more moths joined the lek. A. grisella males appear to benefit from advertising in larger leks in terms of both increased mate attraction and reduced predation risk. Our results support the idea that multiple factors operating simultaneously may maintain lekking behaviour.

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Acknowledgements

Bats were captured and exported under permits 35701-13/2003 and 35717-20/2004 of the Environmental Agency of the Republic of Slovenia and under permit Z3.48.05/AUS 0007/03 of the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation. Bats were housed under licence 301c.4V-sä of the Landratsamt Starnberg. We thank Pascal Binon (Tolaud, Dépt. Ardèche) for help in obtaining A. grisella; Guy Bourdais, Bruno Brizard, and Fabrice Vannier (IRBI, Tours, France) for technical assistance with moth rearing and experimentation; Renate Heckel-Merz for expert help with bat husbandry; Erich Koch for building the Seewiesen moth arena; the Agence Nationale de la Recherche de France (contrat ANR-07-BLAN-0113-01), the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), the Université François Rabelais de Tours, and the Max Planck Society for their financial support. We thank Marlène Goubault, Séverine Ligout, Denis Limousin and Nathan Morehouse, and several anonymous referees for valuable criticisms of earlier versions of this manuscript.

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  1. Institut de recherche sur la biologie de l’insecte, CNRS UMR 6035, Université François Rabelais de Tours, 37200, Tours, France

    Sylvain Alem & Michael D. Greenfield

  2. Sensory Ecology Group, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Eberhard-Gwinner-Straße, 82319, Seewiesen, Germany

    Klemen Koselj & Björn M. Siemers

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  1. Sylvain Alem
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  2. Klemen Koselj
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  3. Björn M. Siemers
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  4. Michael D. Greenfield
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Correspondence to Sylvain Alem.

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Communicated by G. Jones

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Alem, S., Koselj, K., Siemers, B.M. et al. Bat predation and the evolution of leks in acoustic moths. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 65, 2105–2116 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-011-1219-x

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