Mating calls may be a predator's dinner bell

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-06-01 09:01

Australia; NSW

Cedar waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) Credit: Minette Layne from Seattle, Washington, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

When the birds and the bees want to do the deed, they often need to signal to potential mates, but Australian researchers have found that in the animal world, mating calls and other sexual signals can also put animals at risk from predators and parasites. Looking at data from 78 studies, they found that animals which signalled to mates using smell and sound were the most at risk, but, surprisingly, they found no increased risk for animals that signal visually. Understanding this variability may help efforts to ‘weaponise’ this effect in pest management, where you may want to encourage natural predators to control pests.

Media release

From: The Royal Society

The exploitation of sexual signals by predators: a meta-analysis

Conspicuous sexual signals, though attractive to mates, are also thought to garner the attention of unintended receivers such as predators and parasites. Our study affirms this central cost of reproduction, though reveals unexpected complexity and modality-specific variability in outcomes.

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Research The Royal Society, Web page

Journal/
conference: Proceedings of the Royal Society B

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: The University of Sydney, Western Sydney University

Funder: This work was supported by the Hermon Slade Foundation (HSF20082).

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