Does copulation increase the risk of predation?
Studies of mating behaviour have assumed that individuals are at greater risk when paired than when engaged in other activities. Recently, four experimental studies of insects and crustaceans have tested this assumption using predators from divergent taxa. Three of these studies indicate that mating carries no additional risk to the participants. Indeed, the findings suggest decreased vulnerability, relative to other activities, due to decreased predation on one or the other of the mating pair.