Differential Survival and Background Selection in Cryptic Trunk-Dwelling Arthropods in Fire-Prone Environments

AbstractFire events change background color, impairing camouflage strategies. However, selection for polymorphic populations may increase camouflage and survival by reducing predation risks. We conducted experiments addressing background selection and predation pressures on the effectiveness of arthropod camouflage against predation in burned and unburned trunks. We tested color and luminance contrasts, as well as trunk preferences, in a color polymorphic grasshopper and praying mantis species with melanic and brown morphs, and a spider species with a single dark color. To expand the scope of our study, we used two distinct visual models of avian predators: ultraviolet sensitive and violet sensitive. We also performed predation experiments using theoretical prey exhibiting black and brown color and human "predators" to understand the effectiveness of color polymorphism against different trunk conditions. Melanic morphs had lower achromatic contrast in burned backgrounds for both visual systems, suggesting that melanism promotes advantages against predation over long distances. However, only spiders actively selected the low-contrasting burned trunks, indicating habitat specialization. The predation experiments showed that black models benefited from camouflage on burned trunks. Conversely, brown models elicited more time and reduced distance in predator searching compared with the black targets on unburned trunks. We suggest that postfire effects can enhance color contrasts and increase predation over color-mismatching individuals, which translates into selection pressures for color polymorphism and matching background choices.