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146 results for “predator-prey”
Data from: Influence of intra- and interspecific variation in predator-prey body size ratios on trophic interaction strengths
<p>1. Predation is a pervasive force that structures food webs and directly influences ecosystem functioning. The relative body sizes of predators and prey may be an important determinant of interaction strengths. However, studies quantifying the combined influence of intra- and interspecific variation in predator-prey body size ratios are lacking.</p> <p>2. We use a comparative functional response approach to examine interaction strengths between three size classes of invasive bluegill and largemouth bass towards three scaled size classes of their tilapia prey. We then quantify the influence of intra- and interspecific predator-prey body mass ratios on the scaling of attack rates and handling times.</p> <p>3. Type II functional responses were displayed by both predators across all predator and prey size classes. Largemouth bass consumed more than bluegill at small and intermediate predator size classes, whilst large predators of both species were more similar. Small prey were most vulnerable overall, however differential attack rates among prey were emergent across predator sizes. For both bluegill and largemouth bass, small predators exhibited higher attack rates towards small and intermediate prey sizes, whilst larger predators exhibited greater attack rates towards large prey. Conversely, handling times increased with prey size, with small bluegill exhibiting particularly low feeding rates towards medium-large prey types. Attack rates for both predators peaked unimodally at intermediate predator-prey body mass ratios, whilst handling times generally shortened across increasing body mass ratios.</p> <p>4. We thus demonstrate effects of body size ratios on predator-prey interaction strengths between key fish species, with attack rates and handling times dependent on the relative sizes of predator-prey participants.</p> <p>5. Considerations for intra- and interspecific body size ratio effects are critical for predicting the strengths of interactions within ecosystems and may drive differential ecological impacts among invasive species as size ratios shift.</p>
Data from: Comparing the indirect effects between exploiters in predator-prey and host-pathogen systems
DataS1 <p>These files are Maple and Matlab scripts for analyzing the predator-prey and host-pathogen models in "Comparing the indirect effects between exploiters in predator-prey and host-pathogen systems" and generating the figures in that study. </p>
Data from: Antagonistic species interaction drives selection for sex in a predator-prey system
<p>The evolutionary maintenance of sexual reproduction has long challenged biologists as the majority of species reproduce sexually despite inherent costs. Providing a general explanation for the evolutionary success of sex has thus proven difficult and resulted in numerous hypotheses. A leading hypothesis suggests that antagonistic species interaction can generate conditions selecting for increased sex due to the production of rare or novel genotypes that are beneficial for rapid adaptation to recurrent environmental change brought on by antagonism. To test this ecology-based hypothesis, we conducted experimental evolution in a predator (rotifer) - prey (algal) system by using continuous cultures to track predator-prey dynamics and in-situ rates of sex in the prey over time and within replicated experimental populations. Overall, we found that predator-mediated fluctuating selection for competitive versus defended prey resulted in higher rates of genetic mixing in the prey. More specifically, our results showed that fluctuating population sizes of predator and prey, coupled with a trade-off in the prey, drove the sort of recurrent environmental change that could provide a benefit to sex in the prey, despite inherent costs. We end with a discussion of potential population genetic mechanisms underlying increased selection for sex in this system, based on our application of a general theoretical framework for measuring the effects of sex over time, and interpreting how these effects can lead to inferences about the conditions selecting for or against sexual reproduction in a system with antagonistic species interaction.</p>
Predator-prey overlap in three dimensions: cod benefit from capelin coming near the seafloor
<p>Spatial overlap between predator and prey is a prerequisite for predation, but the degree of overlap is not necessarily proportional to prey consumption. This is because many of the behavioural processes that precede ingestion are non-linear and depend on local prey densities. In aquatic environments, predators and prey distribute not only across a surface, but also vertically in the water column, adding another dimension to the interaction. Integrating and simplifying behavioural processes across space and time can lead to systematic biases in our inference about interaction strength. To recognise situations when this may occur, we must first understand processes underlying variation in prey consumption by individuals. Here we analysed the diet of a major predator in the Barents Sea, the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), aiming to understand drivers of variation in cod's feeding on its main prey capelin (Mallotus villosus). Cod and capelin only partly share habitats, as cod mainly reside near the seafloor and capelin inhabit the free water masses. We used data on stomach contents from ~2000 cod individuals and their surrounding environment collected over 12 years, testing hypotheses on biological and physical drivers of variation in cod's consumption of capelin, using Generalized Additive Models. Specifically, effects of capelin abundance, capelin depth distribution, bottom depth, and cod abundance on capelin consumption were evaluated at a resolution scale of 2 km. We found no indication of food competition as cod abundance had no effect on capelin consumption. Capelin abundance had small effects on consumption, while capelin depth distribution was important. Cod fed more intensively on capelin when capelin came close to the seafloor, especially at shallow banks and bank edges. Spatial overlap as an indicator for interaction strength needs to be evaluated in three dimensions instead of the conventional two when species are partly separated in the water column.</p>
Data from: Ecosystem function in predator-prey food webs - confronting dynamic models with empirical data
1. Most ecosystem functions and related services involve species interactions across trophic levels, e.g. pollination and biological pest control. Despite this, our understanding of ecosystem function in multi-trophic communities is poor, and research has been limited to either manipulations in small communities or statistical descriptions in larger ones. 2. Recent advances in food web ecology may allow us to overcome the trade-off between mechanistic insight and ecological realism. Molecular tools now simplify the detection of feeding interactions, and trait-based approaches allow the application of dynamic food web models to real ecosystems. We performed the first test of an allometric food web model's ability to replicate temporally non-aggregated abundance data from the field, and to provide mechanistic insight into the function of predation. 3. We aimed to reproduce and explore the drivers of the population dynamics of the aphid herbivore Rhopalosiphum padi observed in ten Swedish barley fields. We used a dynamic food web model, taking observed interactions and abundances of predators and alternative prey as input data, allowing us to examine the role of predation in aphid population control. The inverse problem methods were used for simultaneous model fit optimization and model parameterization. 4. The model captured >70% of the variation in aphid abundance in five of ten fields, supporting the model-embodied hypothesis that body-size can be an important determinant of predation in the arthropod community. We further demonstrate how in-depth model analysis can disentangle the likely drivers of function, such as the community's abundance and trait composition. Analyzing the variability in model performance revealed knowledge gaps, such as the source of episodic aphid mortality, and general method development needs that, if addressed, would further increase model success and enable stronger inference about ecosystem function. 5. The results demonstrate that confronting dynamic food web models with abundance data from the field is a viable approach to evaluate ecological theory and to aid our understanding of function in real ecosystems. However, to realize the full potential of food web models, in ecosystem function research and beyond, trait-based parameterization must be refined and extended to include more traits than body size.
Data from: Diversity in thermal affinity among key piscivores buffers impacts of ocean warming on predator-prey interactions
Asymmetries in responses to climate change have the potential to alter important predator-prey interactions, in part by altering the location and size of spatial refugia for prey. We evaluated the effect of ocean warming on interactions between four important piscivores and four of their prey in the U.S. Northeast Shelf by examining species overlap under historical conditions (1968-2014) and with a doubling in CO2. Because both predator and prey shift their distributions in response to changing ocean conditions, the net impact of warming or cooling on predator-prey interactions was not determined a priori from the range extent of either predator or prey alone. For Atlantic cod, an historically dominant piscivore in the region, we found that both historical and future warming led to a decline in the proportion of prey species' range it occupied and caused a potential reduction in its ability to exert top-down control on these prey. In contrast, the potential for overlap of spiny dogfish with prey species was enhanced by warming, expanding their importance as predators in this system. In sum, the decline in the ecological role for cod that began with overfishing in this ecosystem will likely be exacerbated by warming, but this loss may be counteracted by the rise in dominance of other piscivores with contrasting thermal preferences. Functional diversity in thermal affinity within the piscivore guild may therefore buffer against the impact of warming on marine ecosystems, suggesting a novel mechanism by which diversity confers resilience.
Data from: Thermal sensitivity and the role of behavior in driving an intertidal predator-prey interaction
Environmental stress models (ESM) provide a useful framework to study the direct and indirect ecological drivers of community diversity and resilience. ESMs make predictions about the relative importance of structuring processes (e.g., predation) based on the relative stress suffered by consumers and prey. Their practical application, i.e., determining the conditions under which consumers and prey performance is more negatively affected, has been limited because the roles of behavior and physiology are not usually considered. We examined the role of thermal sensitivity and behavior on the thermal performance of the rocky intertidal predator Pisaster ochraceus and its main prey Mytilus californianus. We propose a novel framework that merges thermal performance curves (TPC) with observations of microhabitat use to provide a realistic perspective of the relative physiological conditions of predator and prey. First, by deriving aquatic and aerial TPCs for both species and from two sites, we found differences in parameter values that in some cases correspond to the individuals' origins. Second, we calculated realized thermal performance in the field by combining TPCs with body temperatures recorded with biomimetic sensors. Notably, thermal performance of Pisaster was higher than that for Mytilus (i.e., prey-stress model), contrary to previous expectations based on caging experiments. Third, these estimates of thermal performance corresponded loosely with a measured indicator of overall physiological condition (body mass index, BMI) and a marker for extreme thermal stress (heat-shock proteins 70 kDa), suggesting that environmental drivers other than temperature, such as food supply, must be considered. We found no evidence that Pisaster movement significantly influences thermal performance under typical conditions, suggesting instead that its preference for sheltered microhabitats provides a mechanism for avoiding exposure to extreme environmental conditions. Through the application of TPCs and ESMs, this study provides a unique perspective on the importance of physiology and behavior in driving the sensitivity of species interactions to environmental change. Crucially, this framework allowed clarifying that this system behaves as a prey- instead of consumer-stress model, which may also apply to many other ectotherm species interactions.
Proximity-sensors on GPS collars reveal fine-scale predator-prey behavior during a predation event: A case study from Scandinavia
<p>Although the advent of high-resolution GPS tracking technology has helped increase our understanding of individual and multi-species behavior in wildlife systems, detecting and recording direct interactions between free-ranging animals remains difficult. In 2023, we deployed GPS collars equipped with proximity sensors (GPS proximity collars) on brown bears (<em>Ursus</em> <em>arctos</em>) and moose (<em>Alces</em> <em>alces</em>) as part of a multi-species interaction study in central Sweden. On 6 June, 2023, a collar on an adult female moose and a collar on an adult male bear triggered on each other's UHF signal and started collecting fine-scale GPS positioning data. The moose collar collected positions every 2 minutes for 89 minutes and the bear collar collected positions every 1 minute for 41 minutes. On 8 June, field personnel visited the site and found a female neonate moose carcass with clear indications of bear bite marks on the head and neck. During the predation event, the bear remained at the carcass while the moose moved back and forth, moving towards the carcass site about 5 times. The moose was observed via drone with 2 calves on 24 May and with only one remaining calf on 9 June. This case study describes, to the best of our knowledge, the first instance of a predation event between two free-ranging, wild species recorded by GPS proximity collars. Both collars successfully triggered and switched to finer-scaled GPS fix rates when the individuals were in close proximity producing detailed movement data for both predator and prey during and after a predation event. We suggest that, combined with standard field methodology, GPS proximity collars placed on free-ranging animals offer the ability for researchers to observe direct interactions between multiple individuals and species in the wild without the need for direct visual observation.</p>
Data from: Urbanization and primary productivity mediate the predator-prey relationship between deer and coyotes
<p>Predator-prey interactions are important to regulating populations and structuring communities but are affected by many dynamic, complex factors, across larges-scales, making them difficult to study. Integrated population models (IPMs) offer a potential solution to understanding predator-prey relationships by providing a framework for leveraging many different datasets and testing hypotheses about interactive factors. Here, we evaluate the coyote-deer (<em>Canis latrans</em> – <em>Odocoileus virginianus</em>) predator-prey relationship across the state of North Carolina (NC). Because both species have similar habitat requirements and may respond to human disturbance, we considered net primary productivity (NPP) and urbanization as key mediating factors. We estimated deer survival and fecundity by integrating camera trap, harvest, biological and hunter observation datasets into a two-stage, two-sex Lefkovich population projection matrix. We allowed survival and fecundity to vary as functions of urbanization, NPP and coyote density and projected abundance forward to test eight hypothetical scenarios. We estimated initial average deer and coyote densities to be 11.83 (95% CI: 5.64, 20.80) and 0.46 (95% CI: 0.02, 1.45) individuals/km<sup>2</sup>, respectively. We found a negative relationship between current levels of coyote density and deer fecundity in most areas which became more negative under hypothetical conditions of lower NPP or higher urbanization, leading to lower projected deer abundances. These results suggest that coyotes could have stronger effects on deer populations in NC if their densities rise, but primarily in less productive and/or more suburban habitats. Our case study provides an example of how IPMs can be used to better understand the complex relationships between predator and prey under changing environmental conditions.</p>
Thermal plasticity and evolution shape predator-prey interactions differently in clear and turbid water
<p>Warming and eutrophication negatively affect freshwater ecosystems by modifying trophic interactions and increasing water turbidity. We need to consider their joint effects on predator-prey interactions, and how these depend on the thermal evolution of both predator and prey.</p> <p>We quantified how 4°C warming and algae-induced turbidity (that integrates turbidity per se and increased food for zooplankton prey) affect functional response parameters and prey population parameters in a common-garden experiment. We did so for all combinations of high- and low-latitude predator (damselfly larvae) and prey (water fleas) populations to assess the potential impact of thermal evolution of predators and/or prey at a high latitude under warming using a space-for-time substitution. We then modelled effects on the system stability (i.e. tendency to oscillate) under different warming, turbidity and evolutionary scenarios.</p> <p>Warming and turbidity had little effect on the functional response parameters of high-latitude predators. In contrast, warming and turbidity reduced the handling times of low-latitude predators. Moreover, warming increased the search rates of low-latitude predators in clear water but instead decreased these in turbid water.</p> <p>Warming increased stability (i.e. prevented oscillations) in turbid water (except for the "high-latitude predator & high-latitude prey" system), mainly by decreasing the prey's carrying capacity and partly also by decreasing search rates, while it did not affect stability in clear water. Algae-induced turbidity generally decreased stability, mainly by increasing the prey's carrying capacity and partly also by increasing search rates. This resembles findings that nutrient enrichment can reduce the stability of trophic systems. The expected stability of the high-latitude trophic system under warming was dependent on the turbidity level: our results suggest that thermal plasticity tends to destabilize the high-latitude trophic system under warming in clear water but not in turbid water, and that thermal evolution of the predator will stabilize the high-latitude system under warming in turbid water but less so in clear water.</p> <p>The extent to which thermal plasticity and evolution shape trophic system stability under warming may strongly differ between clear and turbid water bodies, with their contributions having a more stabilizing role in turbid water.</p>
An unusual predator-prey system including Iberian lynx and roe deer
<p><span>The Iberian lynx (<em>Lynx pardinus</em>) is a recently recovering felid native to the Iberian Peninsula. This specialist relies on European wild rabbits (<em>Oryctolagus cuniculus</em>) as its bulk prey. Occasionally however, Iberian lynxes can prey on ungulates. New situations emerge in the context of ongoing Iberian lynx recovery and roe deer (<em>Capreolus capreolus</em>) expansion. The capacity of Iberian lynx to influence roe deer dynamics is unknown. We addressed this gap combining camera trapping, noninvasive genetics, and pathology on a site where a saturated Iberian lynx population coincides with a significant roe deer population. Lynx and roe deer detections were not spatially correlated. By contrast, lynx detections were correlated with rabbit detections. We estimated lynx density and roe deer density at 0.167±0.042 lynx/km<sup>2</sup> (SCR models) and 3.55±2.26 roe deer/km<sup>2</sup> (REM method), respectively. <span> </span>Roe deer fawn recruitment was low as the proportion of fawns per adult female was 23%. We detected roe deer DNA in two of 15 lynx feces. One freshly dead adult female roe deer was found by gamekeepers. Two CTs immediately set up at the presumed kill site and kept activated for eight hours recorded three visits by a collared adult female Iberian lynx. The carcass presented lesions compatible with lynx predation. Thus, we compiled CT-derived, genetic, and pathological evidence confirming that Iberian lynxes prey on roe deer. Iberian lynx predation on roe deer is probably sporadic. However, predation has a significant effect on roe deer dynamics in the study site, impeding normal fawn recruitment and the establishment of a harvestable population. Our findings have implications for hunter attitudes, game management and lynx conservation.</span></p>
FIGURE 3 in Attack and defense in a gamasid-oribatid mite predator-prey experiment - sclerotization outperforms chemical repellency
FIGURE 3: Body size and mass of adults and tritonymphs of Archegozetes longisetosus. Stars indicate significant differences (Welch two-sample t-test, ***p<0.001).
FIGURE 1 in Attack and defense in a gamasid-oribatid mite predator-prey experiment - sclerotization outperforms chemical repellency
FIGURE 1: Consumption [%] of the predatory mite Stratiolaelaps miles feeding on differently treated adults and tritonymphs of Archegozetes longisetosus (armed= control group; disarmed= hexane treated specimens). Stars indicate significant differences (Mann-Whitney-U-test, ***p<0.001).
FIGURE 2 in Attack and defense in a gamasid-oribatid mite predator-prey experiment - sclerotization outperforms chemical repellency
FIGURE 2: Normalized amount of defensive secretion of attacked and control group Archegozetes longisetosus. Stars indicate significant differences (Mann-Whitney-U-test, ***p<0.001).
Predator-prey co-occurrence in harvest blocks
<p>Forest harvesting alters habitat, impacts wildlife, and disrupts ecosystem function. Across the boreal forest of Canada, forest harvesting affects ungulate prey species and their predators, with cascading impacts on other species, including threatened woodland caribou. We used camera and vegetation data and occupancy modeling to investigate what characteristics in and around forestry harvest blocks influenced the occupancy and co‐occurrence of primary prey (elk, moose, mule deer, white‐tailed deer) and predators (black bear, cougar, grizzly bear, wolf) in harvest blocks. Occupancy was linked to forage, the surrounding habitat and anthropogenic disturbance, and silviculture practices. Black and grizzly bear occupancy was influenced by the presence of deer, and bear–deer co‐occurrence was influenced by site‐specific silviculture practices and surrounding anthropogenic disturbance. In the context of caribou recovery, our results indicate that forestry within caribou ranges could consider site‐specific silviculture practices and landscape‐level planning to reduce use of harvest blocks by primary prey. Future caribou recovery efforts may also consider the roles of deer and bears in caribou predation risk. Our study provides the first insights into the impacts of forestry and silviculture on boreal forest predator–prey co‐occurrence and provides practical management applications to mitigate the impacts of anthropogenic activities on the boreal forest ecosystem into the future.</p>
Inferring predator-prey interactions from camera traps: A Bayesian co-abundance modelling approach
<p><span>Predator-prey dynamics are a fundamental part of ecology, but directly studying interactions has proven difficult. The proliferation of camera trapping has enabled the collection of large datasets on wildlife, but researchers face hurdles inferring interactions from observational data. </span><span>Recent advances in </span><span>hierarchical c</span><span>o-abundance models infer species interactions while </span><span>accounting for two species' detection probabilities, shared responses to environmental covariates, and propagate uncertainty throughout the</span> <span>entire modelling process. However, current approaches remain </span><span>unsuitable for interacting species </span><span>whose natural densities differ by an order of magnitude and have contrasting detection probabilities, such as predator-prey interactions, which introduce zero-inflation and overdispersion in count histories. </span><span>Here we developed </span><span>a Bayesian hierarchical N-mixture co-abundance model that is </span><span>suitable for </span><span>inferring </span><span>predator-prey </span><span>interactions. We accounted for excessive zeros in count histories using an informed zero-inflated Poisson distribution in the abundance formula and accounted for overdispersion in count histories by including a random effect per sampling unit and sampling occasion in the detection probability formula. We demonstrate that models with these modifications outperform alternative approaches, improve model goodness-of-fit, and overcome parameter convergence failures. We highlight its utility using 20 camera trapping datasets </span><span>from 10 tropical forest landscapes in Southeast Asia and estimate four predator-prey relationships between tigers, clouded leopards, and muntjac and sambar deer. Tigers had a negative effect on muntjac abundance, providing support for top-down regulation, while clouded leopards had a positive effect on muntjac and sambar deer, likely driven by shared responses to unmodelled covariates like hunting. </span><span>This Bayesian co-abundance modelling approach to quantify predator-prey relationships </span><span>is widely applicable across species, ecosystems, and sampling approaches, and may be useful in forecasting cascading impacts following widespread predator declines. Taken together, this approach facilitates a nuanced and mechanistic understanding of food-web ecology.</span></p>
Time to independence and predator-prey relationships of wild-born, captive-raised cheetahs released into private reserves in Namibia
<p><strong>Data associated with the manuscript:</strong></p> <p>Marker, L., Schmidt-Küntzel, A., Walker, E. H., Nghikembua, M., Cristescu, B. Time to independence and predator-prey relationships of wild-born, captive-raised cheetahs released into private reserves in Namibia. Ecological Solutions and Evidence.</p> <p><strong>Contact:</strong></p> <p>Dr. Bogdan Cristescu</p> <p>bogdan@cheetah.org</p> <p><strong>Description:</strong></p> <p>This manuscript estimated the time to independence and cheetah-prey relationships for cheetahs released onto three private reserves in Namibia. The cheetahs were rescued as wild-born cubs, were raised in captivity and went through a rehabilitation process at the Cheetah Conservation Fund, Namibia, and then released with collars to monitor their success post-release in the wild.</p> <p>The data is a MS Excel file that includes separate spreadsheets for:</p> <p>- Time to independence ("TimeToIndependence"): number of weekly supplemental feedings of cheetahs post-release before achieving independence</p> <p>- Prey composition ("PreyComposition"): the species, sex, age class, and size class of prey that cheetahs killed and were recorded during monitoring post-release </p> <p>- Prey availability ("PreyAvailability"): the prey species recorded along driven dirt road transects, and which were used to estimate prey density in a distance sampling framework </p> <p>- Habitat use ("HabitatUse"): the number of kills made by released cheetahs that have associated habitat class information, partitioned by chetah reproductive status (SF: solitary female, CF: coalition females, CM: coalition males) </p>
Supplementary files: Social learning of innovations in dynamic predator-prey systems
<p>We investigate social transmission of behavioral innovations between predators in two classic predator-prey models. We assume that innovations increase predator attack rates or conversion efficiencies, or that innovations reduce predator mortality or prey handling time. We find that a common outcome of innovations is the destabilization of the system. Destabilizing effects include increasing oscillations or limit cycles. Particularly, in systems where prey are self-limiting and predators have a Type II functional response, destabilization occurs due to overexploitation of the prey. Whenever instability increases the risk of extinction, innovations that benefit individual predators may not have positive long-term effects on predator populations. An additional consequence of instability is the maintenance of behavioral variability among predators. Interestingly, when predator populations are low despite coexisting with prey populations near their carrying capacity, innovations that could help predators better exploit their prey are least likely to spread. Precisely how unlikely this is depends on whether or not naïve individuals need to observe an informed individual interact with prey to learn the innovation. Our results offer perspective on the potential role of innovation in biological invasions, urban colonization, and the maintenance of behavioral polymorphisms.</p>
Conspicuous coloration of toxin-resistant predators implicates additional trophic interactions in a predator-prey arms race
<p>Antagonistic coevolution between natural enemies can produce highly exaggerated traits, such as prey toxins and predator resistance. This reciprocal process of adaptation and counter-adaptation may also open doors to other evolutionary novelties not directly involved in the phenotypic interface of coevolution. We tested the hypothesis that predator-prey coevolution coincided with the evolution of conspicuous coloration on resistant predators that retain prey toxins. In western North America, common garter snakes (<em>Thamnophis sirtalis</em>) have evolved extreme resistance to tetrodotoxin (TTX) in the coevolutionary arms race with their deadly prey, Pacific newts (<em>Taricha spp.)</em>. TTX-resistant snakes can retain large amounts of ingested TTX, which could serve as a deterrent against the snakes' own predators if TTX toxicity and resistance are coupled with a conspicuous warning signal. We evaluated whether arms race escalation co-varies with bright red coloration in snake populations across the geographic mosaic of coevolution. Snake color variation departs from the neutral expectations of population genetic structure and co-varies with escalating clines of newt TTX and snake resistance at two coevolutionary hotspots. In the Pacific Northwest, bright red coloration fits an expected pattern of an aposematic warning to avian predators: TTX-resistant snakes that consume highly toxic newts also have relatively large, reddish-orange dorsal blotches. Snake coloration also seems to have evolved with the arms race in California, but overall patterns are less intuitively consistent with aposematism. These results suggest that interactions with additional trophic levels can generate novel traits as a cascading consequence of arms race coevolution across the geographic mosaic.</p>
Data from: Evidence for the Predator Attraction Hypothesis in an amphibian predator-prey system
<p>Many species possess damage-released chemical alarm cues that function in alerting nearby individuals to a predator attack. One hypothesis for the evolution and/or maintenance of such cues is the Predator Attraction Hypothesis, where predators, rather than prey, are the 'intended' recipients of these cues. If a predator attack attracts additional predators, these secondary predators might interfere with the predation event, providing the prey with a better chance to escape. In this study, we conducted two experiments to explore this hypothesis in an amphibian predator/prey system. In Experiment 1, we found that tiger salamanders (<em>Ambystoma</em> <em>mavortium</em>) showed a foraging attraction to chemical cues from wood frog (<em>Lithobates</em> <em>sylvaticus</em>) tadpoles. Salamanders that were experienced with tadpole prey, in particular, were strongly attracted to tadpole alarm cues. In Experiment 2, we observed experimental encounters between a tadpole and either one or two salamanders. The presence of the second predator caused salamanders to increase attack speed at the cost of decreased attack accuracy (i.e., increasing the probability that the tadpole would escape attacks). We also found that the mere presence of visual and chemical cues from a second predator did not affect this speed/accuracy trade-off but did cause enough of a distraction to increase tadpole survival. Thus, our findings are thus consistent with the Predator Attraction Hypothesis for the evolution and/or maintenance of alarm cues.</p>
ScienceDex guides
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These curated guides explain access requirements, typical timelines, costs, and reuse considerations for widely used research datasets.
Allen Brain Atlas
Allen Brain Atlas is an Allen Institute collection of brain map atlases, datasets, APIs, and analysis tools covering mouse, human, and non-human primate brain resources.
Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)
ABODe is a University of Edinburgh DataShare dataset for behavior classification in group-housed mice using home-cage video, identities, bounding boxes, ground-plate positions, and annotator labels.
DANDI Archive for NWB datasets
DANDI is a BRAIN Initiative archive for publishing and sharing neurophysiology data, including electrophysiology, optophysiology, and behavioral data packaged as NWB and related standards.
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.