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Adaptive Sounds and Silences: Acoustic Anti-Predator Strategies in Insects

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Insect Hearing and Acoustic Communication

Part of the book series: Animal Signals and Communication ((ANISIGCOM,volume 1))

Abstract

There has been a recent resurgence of interest in the evolution of adaptive coloration and a new appreciation of the mechanisms, functions, and evolution of crypsis, aposematic coloration, and mimicry. I here apply these principles to the acoustic modality using insect examples and discuss adaptive silence, acoustic crypsis, stealth, acoustic aposematism, acoustic mimicry, and sonar jamming. My goal is to inspire students of bioacoustics to explore the full richness of the acoustic interactions between predator and prey in behavioral, physiological, and evolutionary contexts similar to those used by visual ecologists.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my graduate students, particularly Nickolay Hristov, Jesse Barber, Aaron Corcoran, and Nick Dowdy, for providing much of the bat/moth data that inspired this analysis. I would like to thank Wake Forest University for providing a Z. Smith Reynolds academic leave during which this chapter was written, and the Archbold Biological Station for providing an atmosphere conducive for carrying out the research and writing the manuscript. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0951160.

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  1. Department of Biology, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, 27106, USA

    William E. Conner

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  1. William E. Conner
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Correspondence to William E. Conner .

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  1. Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

    Berthold Hedwig

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Conner, W.E. (2014). Adaptive Sounds and Silences: Acoustic Anti-Predator Strategies in Insects. In: Hedwig, B. (eds) Insect Hearing and Acoustic Communication. Animal Signals and Communication, vol 1. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40462-7_5

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