title: Top down and bottom up selection drives variations in frequency and form of a visual signal.
abstract: The frequency and form of visual signals can be shaped by selection from predators, prey or both. When a signal simultaneously attracts predators and prey selection may favour a strategy that minimizes risks while attracting prey. Accordingly, varying the frequency and form of the silken decorations added to their web may be a way that Argiope spiders minimize predation while attracting prey. Nonetheless, the role of extraneous factors renders the influences of top down and bottom up selection on decoration frequency and form variation difficult to discern. Here we used dummy spiders and decorations to simulate four possible strategies that the spider Argiope aemula may choose and measured the prey and predator attraction consequences for each in the field. The strategy of decorating at a high frequency with a variable form attracted the most prey, while that of decorating at a high frequency with a fixed form attracted the most predators. These results suggest that mitigating the cost of attracting predators while maintaining prey attraction drives the use of variation in decoration form by many Argiope spp. when decorating frequently. Our study highlights the importance of considering top-down and bottom up selection pressure when devising evolutionary ecology experiments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science, National Chung-Hsin University, Taichung 40227, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chien-Wei
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Yeh
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Life Science, Tunghai University, Taichung 40704, Taiwan [2] Evolution &Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth &Environmental Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia.
authors.forename: Sean J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Blamires
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science, Tunghai University, Taichung 40704, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chen-Pan
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Life Science, National Chung-Hsin University, Taichung 40227, Taiwan [2] Department of Life Science, Tunghai University, Taichung 40704, Taiwan.
authors.forename: I-Min
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Tso
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D011235:Predatory Behavior; D013112:Spiders
references.citation: Behav Cogn Neurosci Rev. 2006 Mar;5(1):24-40
references.pmid: 16816091
references.citation: Naturwissenschaften. 2004 May;91(5):224-7
references.pmid: 15146269
references.citation: J Exp Biol. 2010 Mar 1;213(5):759-68
references.pmid: 20154191
references.citation: BMC Evol Biol. 2010;10:58
references.pmid: 20178642
references.citation: J Exp Biol. 2010 Sep 15;213(Pt 18):3207-12
references.pmid: 20802123
references.citation: Proc Biol Sci. 2012 Apr 7;279(1732):1341-50
references.pmid: 22048955
references.citation: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2012 Aug;87(3):686-700
references.pmid: 22309051
references.citation: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2000 Nov;75(4):649-69
references.pmid: 11117202
references.citation: J Exp Biol. 2004 Jul;207(Pt 15):2631-7
references.pmid: 15201295
references.citation: Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 1979 Sep 21;205(1161):489-511
references.pmid: 42057
references.citation: Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 1988 Jul 6;319(1196):505-23
references.pmid: 2905489
references.citation: Am Nat. 2005 Aug;166(2):231-45
references.pmid: 16032576
references.citation: Proc Biol Sci. 2005 Sep 7;272(1574):1753-7
references.pmid: 16096085
references.citation: Annu Rev Entomol. 2000;45:121-50
references.pmid: 10761573
references.citation: PLoS One. 2013;8(1):e54558
references.pmid: 23349928
references.citation: Evolution. 2001 May;55(5):986-93
references.pmid: 11430658
references.citation: Proc Biol Sci. 2001 Aug 7;268(1476):1553-8
references.pmid: 11487401
references.citation: Nature. 2002 Feb 7;415(6872):609-13
references.pmid: 11832937
references.citation: Biol Lett. 2005 Sep 22;1(3):299-302
references.pmid: 17148192