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232 results for “Predator Response”
Data from: Geographic variation in corticosterone response to chronic predator stress in tadpoles
Chronic stress often affects growth and development negatively and these effects are often mediated via glucocorticoid hormones, which elevate during stress. We investigated latitudinal variation in corticosterone (CORT)-response to chronic predator stress in Rana temporaria tadpoles along a 1500 km latitudinal cline in Sweden tadpoles, in a laboratory experiment. We hypothesised that more time-constrained high-latitude populations have evolved a lower CORT-response to chronic stress to maintain higher growth under stressful conditions. Southern tadpoles had higher CORT-content in response to predators after one day of exposure, whereas there was no increase in CORT in the northern populations. Two weeks later there were no predator-induced CORT elevations. Artificially elevated CORT levels strongly decreased growth, development and survival in both northern and southern tadpoles. We suggest that the lower CORT-response in high-latitude populations can be connected with avoidance of CORT-mediated reduction in growth and development, but also discuss other possible explanations.
Data from: Experimental duration and predator satiation levels systematically affect functional response parameters
Empirical feeding studies where density-dependent consumption rates are fitted to functional response models are often used to parameterize the interaction strengths in models of population or food-web dynamics. However, the relationship between functional response parameter estimates from short-term feeding studies and real-world, long-term, trophic interaction strengths remains largely unexamined. In a critical first step to address this void, we tested for systematic effects of experimental duration and predator satiation on the estimate of functional response parameters, namely attack rate and handling time. Analyzing a large data set covering a wide range of predator taxa and body masses we show that attack rates decrease with increasing experimental duration, and that handling times of starved predators are consistently shorter than those of satiated predators. Therefore, both the experimental duration and the predator satiation level have a strong and systematic impact on the predictions of population dynamics and food-web stability. Our study highlights potential pitfalls at the intersection of empirical and theoretical applications of functional responses. We conclude our study with some practical suggestions for how these implications should be addressed in the future to improve predictive abilities and realism in models of predator-prey interactions.
Data from: Brain size affects the behavioral response to predators in female guppies (Poecilia reticulata)
Large brains are thought to result from selection for cognitive benefits, but how enhanced cognition leads to increased fitness remains poorly understood. One explanation is that increased cognitive ability results in improved monitoring and assessment of predator threats. Here, we use male and female guppies (Poecilia reticulata), artificially selected for large and small brain size, to provide an experimental evaluation of this hypothesis. We examined their behavioural response as singletons, pairs or shoals of four towards a model predator. Large-brained females, but not males, spent less time performing predator inspections, an inherently risky behaviour. Video analysis revealed that large-brained females were further away from the model predator when in pairs but that they habituated quickly towards the model when in shoals of four. Males stayed further away from the predator model than females but again we found no brain size effect in males. We conclude that differences in brain size affect the female predator response. Large-brained females might be able to assess risk better or need less sensory information to reach an accurate conclusion. Our results provide experimental support for the general idea that predation pressure is likely to be important for the evolution of brain size in prey species.
Data from: Determinants and co-expression of anti-predator responses in amphibian tadpoles: a meta-analysis
A wide range of taxa respond to perceived predation risk (PPR) through inducible defenses, and many prey are capable of responding both behaviorally and morphologically to the same risk event. In cases where multiple defenses confer protection by independent means (i.e., they are mechanistically independent) responses will either be co-expressed, or the expression of one defense will limit the capacity (or need) to respond along another axis. Our ability to generate a broad understanding of these patters has been limited, in part, by difficulties in comparing results across studies that employ distinct experimental protocols. Using the extensive literature on tadpole responses to PPR, we conducted a meta-analysis to identify the ecological and experimental determinants of inducible defence expression. We then assessed whether the magnitude of response to PPR along behavioural versus morphological response axes was positively, or negatively, correlated. The most commonly quantified responses to perceived risk in tadpoles included reductions in movement and swimming behaviour, and altered tail morphology. Our analyses reveal that tadpole behavioural responses are strongly influenced by prey family, predator taxon, evolutionary history with the predator (native vs. non-native), amount of prey consumed by the predator, and how perceived risk was manipulated (e.g., presence vs. absence of alarm cues). Tail morphology was similarly influenced by these factors, but also whether the target prey was palatable to predators. Thus, our results identify ecological and experimental features that critically influence the observed effect size in tadpole responses to PPR. A positive correlation between behavioural and morphological responses in studies where both were measured indicates that trait co-specialization is the predominant pattern of defense deployment in larval amphibians. This positive relationship suggests that survival tends to be maximized in tadpoles through equivalent coactivation of multiple independent axes of protection, opposed to maximal expression along any single axis.
Rapid evolution of life history traits in response to warming, predation and competition: a meta-analysis
<p>Although studies quantifying evolutionary change in response to the selective pressures that organisms face in the wild have demonstrated that organisms <i>can</i> evolve rapidly, we lack a systematic assessment of the frequency, magnitude and direction of rapid evolutionary change across taxa. To address this gap, we conducted a meta-analysis of 58 studies that document the effects of warming, predation or competition on the evolution of body size, development rate or fecundity in natural or experimental animal populations. We tested whether there was a consistent effect of any selective agent on any trait, whether the direction of these effects align with theoretical predictions, and whether the three agents select in opposing directions on any trait. Overall, we found weak effects of all three selective agents on trait evolution: none of our nine trait by selective agent combinations had an overall effect that differed from zero, only 31% of studies had a significant within-study effect, and attributes of the included studies generally did not account for between-study variation in results. One notable exception was that predation targeting adults consistently resulted in the evolutoin of smaller prey body size. We discuss potential causes of these generally weak responses and consider how our results inform the ongoing development of eco-evolutionary research.</p>
Supplementary material 2 from: Muraro M, Romagnoli S, Barzaghi B, Falaschi M, Manenti R, Ficetola GF (2021) Invasive predators induce plastic and adaptive responses during embryo development in a threatened frog. NeoBiota 70: 69-86. https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.70.65454
Raw data
Data from: Plasticity of snowy plover incubation behaviors in response to risks of nest predation
<p>Nest predation influences population dynamics and is thought to exert strong selection on the evolution of avian life history. Because parental behaviors can attract the attention of nest predators, incubating birds are predicted to decrease conspicuous behaviors at the nest-site and increase incubation constancy when risks of nest predation are high. We examined whether snowy plovers Charadrius nivosus responded to predator-specific risks of nest predation, using the number of off bouts and daily nest attendance (proportion of time spent incubating) as responses. We quantified risks using predator-specific hazard rates of nest mortality, which varied daily and were based on habitat characteristics at each nest. We assessed the influence of predator-specific risks of nest mortality on incubation behaviors using an individual-centering approach, allowing us to explain variation in incubation behaviors within and among breeding pairs. We found increased number of off bouts and nest attendance within breeding pairs in response to increasing risks of nest predation by foxes (Vulpes spp.) and gulls (Larus spp.), but not coyotes (Canis latrans) and common ravens (Corvus corax). Among breeding pairs across habitats, we found increased nest attendance in response to higher risks of nest predation by foxes, but not coyotes, gulls, or ravens. Breeding pairs differed in the amount of behavioral plasticity they exhibited in response to risks of nest predation. Our results suggest that risks of nest predation differentially influence behavioral responses of snowy plovers depending on the predator species, and the amount of behavioral plasticity may depend on characteristics of breeding adults.</p>
Data from: Egg-laying environment modulates offspring responses to predation risk in an amphibian
Predator-induced plasticity has been in the focus of evolutionary ecological research in the last decades, but the consequences of temporal variation in the presence of cues predicting offspring environment have remained controversial. This is partly due to the fact that the role of early environmental effects has scarcely been scrutinized in this context while also controlling for potential maternal effects. In this study we investigated how past environmental conditions, i.e. different combinations of risky or safe adult (pre-natal) and oviposition (early post-natal) environments affected offspring's plastic responses in hatching time and locomotor activity to predation risk during development in the smooth newt (Lissotriton vulgaris). We found that females did not adjust their reproductive investment to the perceived level of risk in the adult environment, and this pre-natal environment had generally negligible effect on offspring phenotype. However, when predator cues were absent during oviposition, larvae raised in the presence of predator cues delayed their hatching and exhibited a decreased activity compared to control larvae developing without predator cues, which responses are advantageous when predators pose a threat to hatched larvae. In the presence of predator cues during oviposition, the difference in hatching time persisted,but the difference in general locomotor activity disappeared between risk-exposed and control larvae. Our findings provide clear experimental evidence that fine-scale temporal variation in a predictive cue during and after egg-laying interactively affect offspring phenotype, and highlight the importance of the early post-natal environment, which may exert a substantial influence on progeny's phenotype also under natural conditions.
Data from: Local adaptation and the potential effects of a contaminant on predator avoidance and antipredator responses under global warming: a space-for-time substitution approach
The ability to deal with temperature-induced changes in interactions with contaminants and predators under global warming is one of the outstanding, applied evolutionary questions. For this, it is crucial to understand how contaminants will affect activity levels, predator avoidance and antipredator responses under global warming and to what extent gradual thermal evolution may mitigate these effects. Using a space-for-time substitution approach, we assessed the potential for gradual thermal evolution shaping activity (mobility and foraging), predator avoidance and antipredator responses when Ischnura elegans damselfly larvae were exposed to zinc in a common-garden warming experiment at the mean summer water temperatures of shallow water bodies at these latitudes (24 and 20°C, respectively). Zinc reduced mobility and foraging, predator avoidance and escape swimming speed. Importantly, high-latitude populations showed stronger zinc-induced reductions in escape swimming speed at both temperatures, and in activity levels at the high temperature. The latter indicates that local thermal adaptation may strongly change the ecological impact of contaminants under global warming. Our study underscores the critical importance of considering local adaptation along natural gradients when integrating biotic interactions in ecological risk assessment, and the potential of gradual thermal evolution mitigating the effects of warming on the vulnerability to contaminants.
Data for: Predation risk and the evolution of a vertebrate stress response: parallel evolution of stress reactivity and sexual dimorphism
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>Predation risk is often invoked to explain variation in stress responses. Yet, the answers to several key questions remain elusive, including: 1) how predation risk influences the evolution of stress phenotypes, 2) the relative importance of environmental versus genetic factors in stress reactivity, and 3) sexual dimorphism in stress physiology. To address these questions, we </span></span>explored variation in stress reactivity (ventilation frequency) in a post-Pleistocene radiation of live-bearing fish, where Bahamas mosquitofish (<i>Gambusia hubbsi</i>) inhabit isolated blue holes that differ in predation risk. Individuals of populations coexisting with predators exhibited similar, relatively low stress reactivity as compared to low-predation populations. We suggest that this dampened stress reactivity has evolved to reduce energy expenditure in environments with frequent and intense stressors, such as piscivorous fish. Importantly, the magnitude of stress responses exhibited by fish from high-predation sites in the wild changed very little after two generations of laboratory rearing in the absence of predators. By comparison, low-predation populations exhibited greater among-population variation and larger changes subsequent to laboratory rearing. These low-predation populations appear to have evolved more dampened stress responses in blue holes with lower food availability. Moreover, females showed a lower ventilation frequency, and this sexual dimorphism was stronger in high-predation populations. This may reflect a greater premium placed on energy efficiency in live-bearing females, especially under high predation risk where females show higher fecundities. Altogether, by demonstrating parallel adaptive divergence in stress reactivity, we highlight how energetic trade-offs may mould the evolution of the vertebrate stress response under varying predation risk and resource availability.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
Data for Sentis et al. Short-term thermal acclimation modulates predator functional response
<p>Data from the study Short-term thermal acclimation modulates predator functional response by Arnaud Sentis, Lukas Veselý, Marek Let, Martin Musil, Viktoriia Malinovska and Antonín Kouba. The data represent the number of prey eaten for different initial prey densities, temperatures and acclimation times.</p>
Behavioural response to predation risks depends on experimental change in dehydration state in a lizard
<p>Dataset for the research article published in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiolgy in 2023 entitled "Behavioural response to predation risks depends on experimental change in dehydration state in a lizard"</p>
Supplementary material 1 from: Faria L, Vitule JRS, Olden JD (2023) Predation risk by largemouth bass modulates feeding functional responses of native and non-native crayfish. NeoBiota 87: 191-212. https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.87.108457
Data from functional response trials
Data from: Plasticity of snowy plover incubation behaviors in response to risks of nest predation
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Calling in the face of danger: do nestling Red-winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) suppress begging in response to predator playbacks?
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Data from: Evolution without standing genetic variation: change in transgenerational plastic response under persistent predation pressure
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Food availability and long-term predation risk interactively affect antipredator response
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Data from: Egg-laying environment modulates offspring responses to predation risk in an amphibian
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Data from: Using functional responses to quantify interaction effects among predators
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In utero accumulated steroids predict neonate anti-predator response in a wild mammal
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Allen Brain Atlas
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DANDI Archive for NWB datasets
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International Brain Laboratory public data
The International Brain Laboratory public data releases expose standardized mouse decision-making experiments, including Neuropixels recordings, widefield calcium imaging, behavior, and session metadata accessed through the ONE API.
OpenNeuro
OpenNeuro is a free, open platform for sharing neuroimaging datasets, with public search, dataset pages, and download paths for web, S3, DataLad, and the OpenNeuro CLI.