Fig. 3. Framework to study the ecological significance of crickets' escape system. (1) The identity of the predator greatly affects the nature of the stimulus perceived by the cricket. (2) The relative conspicuousness of a stimulus can be strongly affected by how well it transmits through the local environment. Although undocumented in crickets, signal perception has been related to habitat type in bats and fishes (Jones and Rydell, 1994; Domenici and Blake, 1997). Background noise (e.g. wind) may also impair crickets' ability to extract information from stimuli. (3) Hunting tactics of crickets' predators are likely to be influenced by the surrounding environment as shown for other predators. Bats for example, increase both the frequency and the bandwidth of their echo during target approach, thereby reducing the masking effect produced by the cluttering of nearby vegetation (Jones and Rydell, 1994). (4) Behaviour and therefore survival of crickets vary depending on the identity of predators (this study) and their attack tactic (Dangles et al., 2006). In return, cricket behaviour is likely to influence predator tactics. (5) Cricket cercus morphology is variable among populations from different environments (Dangles et al., 2005), suggesting an influence of predator and/or environmental characteristics on cercus morphology. Such a reaction norm is well documented in aquatic organisms that are capable of inducing defences (e.g. spines) in the presence of predators (see Schlichting and Pigliucci, 1998).