Preference for supernormal stimuli tends to override initially learned associations for conspicuous prey traits: implications from a laboratory study

Abstract

How predators select on conspicuous prey traits is not well understood. We used a laboratory setup to investigate the role of learning in predator choice of conspicuous visual traits. We used a generalist predator, the great tit, and coloured wings of males of two species of damselflies as prey. Wing pigmentation differs between the species in colour (green vs. blue) and size (large vs. small). Wing pigmentation is a sexually selected trait that experiences negative selection by avian predators. Inexperienced great tits showed no preference for the colour or the size of wing pigmentation. Great tits were then repeatedly exposed to rewarded wings with either large or small wing patch size. When these experienced birds were exposed to both wing patch sizes for the first time, they tended to prefer the wings with the large patch, irrespective of their previous experience. Our results suggest that the choice of the predator was based on an initial association of the trait to a reward followed by a preference for a supernormal stimulus, probably due to a larger sensory stimulation. We discuss the implications of our laboratory results in the light of previous estimates of damselfly predation risk under field conditions.