Foraging and mate‐finding in the silver Y moth, Autographa gamma (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) under the risk of predation

Abstract

Animal foraging and reproductive behaviour is influenced by other simultaneous demands such as predator avoidance. The trade‐offs between these demands may depend on sex or mating experience. This study demonstrates that the olfactory‐mediated foraging and mate‐seeking behaviours in the silver Y moths, Autographa gamma, are affected by auditory cues mimicking their bat predators. Both males and females changed their foraging behaviour under simulated predation risk. Fewer moths reached the odour source following sound stimulation and the time to find the odour source increased by up to 250%. However, there were no significant differences between male and female ability to reach the plant odour source or the duration of the flight towards the source when stimulated with ultrasound. Hence females are not more cautious than males when observed in the same behavioural context. Risk‐taking in males was independent of whether they were flying toward a flower odour or sex pheromones having equal attractive value. This indicates that the trade‐off between olfactory and acoustic cues is independent the type of odour. Mated females were not as strongly affected by sound as non‐mated, indicating that flower odours have a higher adaptive value for mated females, suggesting that some processes following mating experience influence the trade‐off between flower odours and simulated bat sounds.