Domestication reduces caterpillar response to auditory predator cues.

Domestication can lead to significant changes in the growth and behavior of organisms. While the threat of predation is a strong selective force in the wild, the relaxation or removal of this threat in captive-rearing environments selects for reduced sensitivity to biotic stressors. Previous work has documented such changes in other taxa, but no work has been done on domestication-related losses of predation risk sensitivity in insects.

Auditory predator cues decrease herbivore survival and plant damage.

The high fitness cost of predation selects prey capable of detecting risk cues and responding in ways that reduce their vulnerability. While the impacts of auditory predator cues have been extensively researched in vertebrate prey, much less is known about invertebrate species' responses and their potential to affect the wider food web. We exposed larvae of Spodoptera exigua, a slow-moving and vulnerable herbivore hunted by aerial predators, to recordings of wasp buzzing (risk cue), mosquito buzzing (no-risk cue), or a no-sound control in both laboratory and field settings.