Colour Polymorphism Protects Prey Individuals and Populations Against Predation



: Karpestam E, Merilaita S, Forsman A

Publisher: NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP

: 2016

: Scientific Reports

: SCIENTIFIC REPORTS

: SCI REP-UK

: ARTN 22122

: 6

: 10

: 2045-2322

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/srep22122


Colour pattern polymorphism in animals can influence and be influenced by interactions between predators and prey. However, few studies have examined whether polymorphism is adaptive, and there is no evidence that the co-occurrence of two or more natural prey colour variants can increase survival of populations. Here we show that visual predators that exploit polymorphic prey suffer from reduced performance, and further provide rare evidence in support of the hypothesis that prey colour polymorphism may afford protection against predators for both individuals and populations. This protective effect provides a probable explanation for the longstanding, evolutionary puzzle of the existence of colour polymorphisms. We also propose that this protective effect can provide an adaptive explanation for search image formation in predators rather than search image formation explaining polymorphism.



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