title: 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, we described a case in which plants release a fixed, high amount of HIPVs independent of herbivore load, adopting what we labelled a 'cry-wolf' strategy. To understand when such signals evolve, we model coevolutionary interactions between plants, herbivores and predators, and show that both 'honest' and 'cry-wolf' types can emerge, depending on the assumed plant-herbivore encounter rates and herbivore population density. It is suggested that the 'cry-wolf' strategy may have evolved to reduce the risk of heavy damage in the future. Our model suggests that eco-evolutionary feedback loops involving a third species may have important consequences for the stability of this outcome.
authors.affiliation: Center for Ecological Research, Kyoto University, Hirano 2-509-3, Otsu 520-2113, Japan a-yama@ecology.kyoto-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yamauchi
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Ecologie, CNRS UMR7625, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France Laboratoire d'Ecologie, CNRS UMR7625, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Minus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: van Baalen
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics and Management, Kochi University of Technology, Kochi 782-8502, Japan Research Center for Future Design, Kochi University of Technology, Kochi 782-8502, Japan.
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.affiliation: Center for Ecological Research, Kyoto University, Hirano 2-509-3, Otsu 520-2113, Japan.
authors.forename: Junji
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Takabayashi
authors.affiliation: Center for Ecological Research, Kyoto University, Hirano 2-509-3, Otsu 520-2113, Japan The Hakubi Center for Advanced Research, Kyoto University, Yoshida-Ushinomiya-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan Faculty of Agriculture, Ryukoku University, Yokotani 1-5, Seta Oe-cho, Otsu 520-2194, Japan.
authors.forename: Kaori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shiojiri
authors.affiliation: Population Biology Section, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 911, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Maurice W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Sabelis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D060434:Herbivory; D008954:Models, Biological; D010944:Plants / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D011235:Predatory Behavior; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds
keywords: HIPVs; signalling; tritrophic system