Laboratoire de Parasitologie Evolutive Tel: ++ 33 1 44 27 25 94

CNRS UMR 7103 Fax: ++ 33 1 44 27 35 16

Université Pierre et Marie Curie Email:

Bât. A, 7ème étage

7 quai St. Bernard, Case 237

F-75252 Paris Cedex 5

France

Stage M2

Predation and determinants of susceptibility to predation

Predation is one of the most important forces of natural selection, but relatively little is known about the features that render particular individuals or species susceptible to predation. I suggest a M2 project to investigate determinants of individual and specific susceptibility to predation.

What are the factors that make individuals susceptible to predation?

1. Disease. A couple of recent studies have shown that individuals with a weak immune system are more likely to fall prey to a predator (Møller & Erritzøe 2000). Predators may also affect the immune status and hence the level of malarial parasites in potential prey through effects on corticosterone (Møller et al. 2004). To which extent does immune responses reflect risk of predation?

2. Inbreeding. Inbreeding generally reduces performance in a number of domains, and we could test if prey have lower levels of heterozygosity than a sample of randomly chosen individuals.

3. Secondary sexual signals. Such signals are often condition-dependent with individuals with the largest signals being in superior condition. A few studies have shown that predators select males with small secondary sexual characters (e. g. Møller & Nielsen 1997). Is this a general phenomenon?

There are numerous studies of predation, but very few that have quantified predation relative to abundance of prey in the environment. We have such a dataset covering well over 100 species of prey in several study areas that differ in quality. What are the factors that make certain species susceptible to predation?

1. Disease. Preliminary studies suggest that species with strong immune responses are suffering disproportionately from predation in years with poor weather conditions.

2. Inbreeding. Preliminary studies have shown that prey species with a high degree of band sharing and hence with low levels of genetic variation have a disproportionately large risk of falling prey to a predator. What is the mechanism behind this relationship?

3. Secondary sexual signals. Bird species that are sexually dichromatic are more likely to fall prey to a predator than monochromatic species. What is the mechanism behind this relationship?

Model systems: Predation by the European sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus and the European goshawk Accipiter gentilis.

Existing databases include information on more than 80,000 prey items collected during a period of 28 years from over 100 different breeding territories.

The study could be entirely based on analysis of existing data, or it could be partly or fully based on fieldwork, including field experiments. There is also a possibility for a more ecologically oriented project that emphasizes analysis of the determinants of interspecific and spatial variation in determinants of numerical and functional response of different prey species. Finally, it is possible to use a climate change point of view and investigate how changes in climate affect predation risk, even in habitats that differ in quality.

Possibility for a PhD project if funding is available.

References:

Møller, A. P. & Erritzøe, J. 2000. Predation againts birds with low immunocompetence. Oecologia 122:500-504.

Møller, A. P., Marzal, A., Navarro, C. and de Lope, F. 2004. Predation risk, host immune response and parasitism. Behav. Ecol. 15:629-635.

Møller, A. P. & Nielsen, J. T. 1997. Differential predation cost of a secondary sexual character: Sparrowhawk predation on barn swallows. Anim. Behav. 54:1545-1551.

Anders Pape Møller (DR1)