Predator Recognition in the Absence of Selection

Abstract

Animals are frequently confronted with changing environmental conditions (Houston and McNamara 1992; Komers 1997). When they are no longer exposed to the sources of selection that their ancestors once faced, they experience relaxed selection on these sources (Coss 1999). They may still retain behavior that was shaped to cope with the past selective forces, even though it no longer serves a specific function (Blumstein et al. 2000; Rothstein 2001).