Anti-Predator Adaptation Ani Mardiastuti Anti-Predator Adaptation • Antipredator adaptations have evolved in prey populations due to the selective pressures of predation over long periods of time: – Aggression – Mobbing behavior – Aposematism (warning coloration) – Camouflage (by both preys and predators) – Mimicry Aggression Mobbing Behavior • occurs when a species turns the tables on their predator by cooperatively attacking or harassing it. • most frequently seen in birds Aposematism: “I am dangerous” Camouflage • Camouflage: a species appears similar to its surroundings • A form of visual mimicry, but usually is restricted to cases where the model is non- living or abiotic Camouflage Camouflage Camouflage Camouflage “Bird droppings” Mimicry • Crypsis: a broader concept that encompasses all forms of detection evasion, such as mimicry, camouflage, hiding etc. • Mimicry: occurs when a group of organisms (the mimics), have evolved to share common perceived characteristics with another group, (the models, usually another species) through the selective action of a signal-receiver or dupe Categories of Mimicry • Defensive (protective): organisms are able to avoid an encounter that would be harmful to them by deceiving an enemy into treating them as something else • Automimicry (intraspecific): occurs within a single species, one part of an organism's body resembles another part • Reproductive (pseudocopulation): occurs when the actions of the dupe directly aid in the mimic's reproduction Defensive Mimicry • Batesian mimicry: a harmless mimic poses as harmful • Müllerian mimicry: two harmful species share similar perceived characteristics • Mertensian mimicry: where a deadly mimic resembles a less harmful but lesson-teaching model • Vavilovian mimicry: weeds resemble crops Batesian Mimicry Henry Walter Bates • The mimic shares signals similar to the model, but does not have the attribute that makes it unprofitable to predators (e.g. unpalatability) • A Batesian mimic is “a sheep’s in wolf’s clothing” Two wasp species and four imperfect and palatable mimics. (A) Dolichovespula media; (B) Polistes spec.; (C) Eupeodes spec.; (D) Syrphus spec; (E) Helophilus pendulus; (F) Clytus arietes Thaumoctopus False Cobra Malpolon moilensis and Cobra Batesian mimicry in butterflies Müllerian Mimicry Fritz Müller • Two or more species have very similar warning or aposematic signals and both share genuine anti predation attributes (e.g. being unpalatable) • If two species were confused with one another by a common predator, individuals in both would be more likely to survive The Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus) is a member of a Müllerian complex with the Viceroy Butterfly (Limenitis archippus) in shared coloration patterns and display behavior. The Heliconius butterflies from the tropics of the Western Hemisphere Mertensian Mimicry Robert Mertens • Often considered a subtype of Müllerian mimicry. • Deadly prey mimic a less dangerous species • In this case both harmless and deadly mimics resemble a dangerous but not usually deadly species (if the predator dies, it cannot learn to recognize a trait, e.g. a warning coloration) Mertensian Mimicry: Milk Snake (Lampropeltis triangulum) (harmless), the moderately toxic False Coral Snakes (genus Erythrolamprus), and the deadly Coral Snakes all have a red background color with black and white/yellow stripes. In this system, both the milk snakes and the deadly coral snakes are mimics, whereas the false coral snakes are the model. Vavilovian Mimicry Nikolai Vavilov • Weeds which come to share characteristics with a domstic plant through artificial selection • Selection against the weed may occur either by manually killing the weed, or separating its seeds from those of the crop Rye is a secondary crop, originally being a mimetic weed of wheat Automimicry Automimicry Pseudocopulation Pseudocopulation Biomimicry Biomimicry • a new discipline that studies nature’s best ideas and then imitates these designs and processes to solve human problems • the science of taking inspiration from nature, its models, systems, processes and elements to solve design problems sustainably Design inspired by wildlife Speedo’s Sharkskin US Air Force - Stealth Cactus Building, Qatar Japan’s Shinkansen Eastgate Building, Harare China .