What happens to predation rates across a local bird population due to rapid learned avoidance?
Answer
The rapid spread of learned avoidance can dramatically suppress predation rates.
When one bird samples an unpalatable insect, the consequence—nausea or discomfort—is quickly communicated, sometimes non-verbally, through subsequent avoidance behavior exhibited by that bird. This behavior is rapidly picked up by other birds nearby, especially in environments where they have no prior evolutionary history with that specific chemical signature. Consequently, the learning curve for avoidance is steep, leading to a dramatic suppression of predation rates across the local avian population until new generations of birds replace those that acquired the aversion, or until the insect's defensive chemistry changes.
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