Indirect cues in selecting a hunting sitein a sit-and-wait predator
Résumé
Sit-and-wait predators use relatively simple rules for their decisions tochoose and leave a patch, such as using the direct presence of prey to select a huntingsite. However, the direct presence of prey can only be used when there is a highlyvisited patch in the proximity of the predator. Therefore, it is plausible that sit-andwaitpredators also exploit indirect cues of prey presence and, consequently, useassociative learning to select a hunting site. The present study tests for the role ofassociative learning in a sit-and-wait predator species for which the ecology is wellunderstood: Misumena vatia Clerck crab spiders. An ecologically relevant scenario isused by selecting flower colour as the conditioned stimulus and prey presence as theunconditioned stimulus. The results provide no evidence that M. vatia crab spiders usethe association between flower colour and food presence for selecting a hunting site.After a training phase of being exposed to a colourful artificial flower highly visited bybees, spiders select a hunting site independently of its colour during the testing phase.Investigations of similar scope and ecological relevance are required with other sitand-wait predators to identify the conditions promoting the use of associative learningfor foraging site selection when animals face an unpredictable food supply.