Curtin University Homepage
  • Library
  • Help
    • Admin

    espace - Curtin’s institutional repository

    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
    View Item 
    • espace Home
    • espace
    • Curtin Research Publications
    • View Item
    • espace Home
    • espace
    • Curtin Research Publications
    • View Item

    Failure to launch? The influence of limb autotomy on the escape behavior of a semiaquatic grasshopper Paroxya atlantica (Acrididae)

    Access Status
    Fulltext not available
    Authors
    Bateman, Bill
    Fleming, P.
    Date
    2011
    Type
    Journal Article
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citation
    Bateman, B. and Fleming, P. 2011. Failure to launch? The influence of limb autotomy on the escape behavior of a semiaquatic grasshopper Paroxya atlantica (Acrididae). Behavioral Ecology. 22: pp. 763-768.
    Source Title
    Behavioral Ecology
    Additional URLs
    http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/05/04/beheco.arr045
    ISSN
    1045-2249
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/24071
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    Autotomy is an extreme escape tactic where an animal sheds an appendage to escape predation. Many species alter their behaviour postautotomy to compensate for this loss. We examined the escape behavior in the field of a semiaquatic grasshopper (Paroxyaatlantica) that could escape either by flight and landing in vegetation or flight and landing in water and swimming to safety. Wepredicted that animals missing a hind limb would be more reactive (i.e., have longer flight initiation distances; FID) and would prefer to escape to vegetation rather than to water as loss of a limb is likely to reduce swimming ability. However, our predictions were not supported. FID in autotomized animals was not different from that in intact animals. Furthermore, although autotomized grasshoppers paused more often and swam slower than intact individuals, autotomized rasshoppers more often escaped to water, reaching it via shorter flights that were lateral to the approach of the observer (intact grasshoppers more often flew directly away from the observer). We also noted differences in behavior before disturbance: Autotomised animals perched lower onemergent vegetation than did intact ones, presumably in readiness for escape via water, and also showed a greater likelihood to hide (squirreling) from the approaching observer prior to launch into flight. It seems likely that the reduced flight distance andgreater propensity to land in water for autotomized P. atlantica may reflect a failure to launch from their perch due to loss ofa jumping back leg. Key words: distance fled, escape tactics, escape trajectory, flight initiation distance, Orthoptera, predationrisk.

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • Living on the edge: Effects of body size, group density and microhabitat selection on escape behaviour of southern leopard frogs Lithobates sphenocephalus
      Bateman, Bill; Fleming, P. (2014)
      Models of optimal escape strategy predict that animals should move away when the costs of fleeing (metabolic and opportunity costs) are outweighed by the costs of remaining. These theoretical models predict that more ...
    • Look at the time: diel variation in the flight initiation distance of a nectarivorous bird
      Ferguson, Stephen; Gilson, Lauren ; Bateman, Bill (2019)
      Abstract: When approached by a predator, foraging animals should adjust escape behavior based on their current energetic status to minimize opportunity costs (foraging time) and maximize the chance of escape. Animals ...
    • Switching to Plan B: changes in the escape tactics of two grasshopper species (Acrididae: Orthoptera) in response to repeated predatory approaches
      Bateman, Bill; Fleming, P. (2014)
      Most studies examining escape behaviour have considered single approaches and single fleeing responses; few have considered how organisms’ response is influenced by persistent pursuit. We explored fleeing behaviour of two ...
    Advanced search

    Browse

    Communities & CollectionsIssue DateAuthorTitleSubjectDocument TypeThis CollectionIssue DateAuthorTitleSubjectDocument Type

    My Account

    Admin

    Statistics

    Most Popular ItemsStatistics by CountryMost Popular Authors

    Follow Curtin

    • 
    • 
    • 
    • 
    • 

    CRICOS Provider Code: 00301JABN: 99 143 842 569TEQSA: PRV12158

    Copyright | Disclaimer | Privacy statement | Accessibility

    Curtin would like to pay respect to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members of our community by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which the Perth campus is located, the Whadjuk people of the Nyungar Nation; and on our Kalgoorlie campus, the Wongutha people of the North-Eastern Goldfields.