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Prey vulnerability in relation to sexual coloration of prey

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Abstract

Sexual selection that results in the evolution of exaggerated secondary sexual characters has been hypothesized to impose production and maintenance costs of such traits on their bearers. Costs arising from sexual selection could increase the intensity of predator-mediated natural selection, leading to the prediction that species with exaggerated secondary sexual characters should be particularly susceptible to predation. We tested this prediction in a comparative analysis based on 31,745 prey individuals belonging to 66 species of birds collected from a total of 937 breeding events by 33 to 66 different pairs of European sparrowhawks Accipiter nisus annually during a period of 21 years. To assess vulnerability of different species we estimated a prey vulnerability index based on the difference in the logarithmically transformed absolute abundance of prey minus the logarithmically transformed expected abundance as determined by population density of breeding birds. The prey vulnerability index was predicted by sexual dichromatism, accounting for 23% of the variance in risk of predation among species, even when considering similarity in phenotype among species due to common descent (in the latter case explaining 12% of the variance). This finding suggests that sexual selection is an important evolutionary force-affecting predator–prey interactions.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all landowners who provided access to their properties. H. Grunnet and J. K. Jensen helped collect some of the material. S. Rytkönen kindly provided constructive criticism.

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  1. Jan Tøttrup Nielsen

    Present address: , Espedal 4, Tolne, DK-9870, Sindal, Denmark

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Parasitologie Evolutive, CNRS UMR 7103, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Bât. A, 7ème étage, 7 quai St. Bernard, Case 237, F-75252, Paris, Cedex 05, France

    Anders Pape Møller

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  1. Anders Pape Møller
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  2. Jan Tøttrup Nielsen
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Correspondence to Anders Pape Møller.

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Communicated by P. Bednekoff

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Møller, A.P., Nielsen, J.T. Prey vulnerability in relation to sexual coloration of prey. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 60, 227–233 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-006-0160-x

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