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1,551 results for “prey”

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dryad36/100

Data from: Environmental correlates of molluscan predator-prey body size in the northern Gulf of Mexico

The Mississippi River watershed drains 40% of the continental United States, and the tremendous primary productivity in the adjacent north-central Gulf of Mexico has created one of the most extensive dead zones on Earth. In contrast, smaller watersheds deliver less nutrients to the northeastern Gulf, and consequently productivity is limited and hypoxia is uncommon. How has variation in primary productivity, oxygen availability, and sea surface temperature, affected coastal food webs? Here, we investigate environmental controls on the size of molluscan predators and prey in the northern Gulf of Mexico using Holocene death assemblages. Linear mixed models indicate that bivalve size and the frequency of drilling predation are affected by dissolved oxygen concentrations; drilling frequency declines with declining oxygen, whereas bivalve size increases. In contrast, sea surface temperature is positively associated with the size of molluscan predators and prey. Net primary productivity contributes relatively little to predator or prey size, and predator-to-prey size ratios do not vary consistently with environmental conditions across the northern Gulf. Larger bivalves in areas of oxygen limitation may be due to decreased predation pressure and consequently greater prey longevity. The larger size of bivalves and predatory gastropods in warmer waters may reflect enhanced growth under these conditions, provided dissolved oxygen concentrations exceed a minimum threshold. Holocene death assemblages can be used to test long-standing hypotheses regarding environmental controls on predator-prey body size distributions through geologic time and provide baselines for assessing the ongoing effects of anthropogenic eutrophication and warming on coastal food webs.

opencc-zeroJun 2023View details →

dryad36/100

Data from: Use of a toxin sequestered from exotic prey by a non-coevolved predator

Here, we chose a well-known system of invasive species to test whether non-coevolved predators can sequester and use toxins from exotic prey. Together with the invasive prickly pear plants, cochineal bugs (Dactylopius spp.) are spreading worldwide from their native range in the Americas. These insects produce carminic acid, a defensive anthraquinone that some specialized predators of cochineal bugs sequester for their own defense. We carried out a series of experiments to test whether non-coevolved predators in the exotic range of cochineal bugs can also sequester carminic acid and potentially benefit from this substance. We designed a series of experiments to test whether non-coevolved predators that feed on exotic cochineal bugs can sequester carminic acid and use it to release it on demand and repel their potential enemies. We first identified and quantified the resident predators that exploit cochineal bugs in the Mediterranean basin, an area invaded by cochineal bugs. Then, we determined whether the most abundant coccinellid predator tolerated, sequestered, and released carminic acid in the reflex-bleeding. Finally, we quantified the deterrent effect of carminic acid against antagonistic ants present in the invaded area. This data collection gathers different datasets collected by Ángel Plata between 2020 and 2022. It is organized in three different folders according to previously stated objectives. Each folder contains a file with the collected data. Besides the data, each folder contains README files that explain the methodology for collecting the data and README files that describe the structure of the data. When necessary, the calculation sheets and the codes related to statistical analysis and generation of figures are also included.

opencc-zeroJul 2023View details →

dryad36/100

Data from: Behavioral diversity and biomechanical determinants of the outcome of a fish predator-prey interaction

Predator-prey interactions are ubiquitous and under strong selection because of the consequences experienced by both predator and prey if they lose the interaction. Biomechanics and behavior play important roles in the outcome of these interactions, but many studies focus on the prey, restrict the range of behaviors considered, and the role of prey boldness in the outcome is not understood. We used high-speed video to test for effects of multiple measures of performance and kinematics of both the predator and prey, and boldness of prey on the outcome of interactions between Pike Cichlids (Crenicichla) and Guppies (Poecilia reticulata). We found high variation in the behaviors employed during the predator-prey interactions, including in suction versus raptorial feeding, strike accuracy, and guppy responsiveness. We also found that predators moving relatively slower and prey moving relatively faster were more successful at consuming the prey and evading the predator, respectively. Prey that reacted farther from the predator were more likely to escape predation, but boldness of the prey did not affect the interaction. Our work suggests that a high level of variation in predator-prey interactions is widespread, even when strike and escape behaviors are stereotyped. We also showed that what both the predator and the prey do during an interaction are important in determining the outcome.

opencc-zeroJul 2023View details →

dryad36/100

DNA metabarcoding illuminates the contribution of small and very small prey taxa to the diet of lions

Knowledge of food web interactions is essential for understanding the role of carnivores in an ecosystem and designing appropriate conservation and management strategies to preserve them. These interactions can only be understood by studying carnivores' diets and obtaining comprehensive and unbiased diet data. For large carnivores – which typically rely on large herbivores as prey – the role of smaller prey species has not received attention. This study aims to quantify the contribution of small (5–50 kg) and very small (<5 kg) prey taxa in the diet of lions (Panthera leo melanochaita) in four Kenyan National Parks (NPs). We use DNA metabarcoding to achieve higher-resolution insights into prey composition, which is less biased toward large prey species compared to traditional methods, such as carcass counts. Our study identified 24 prey taxa in a total of 171 lion fecal samples. Small and very small prey taxa together contributed 18.7% out of 278 prey occurrences in all fecal samples. With comparable small prey presence (ranging from 8% to 15%) in the diet for each NP studied. This approach proved to be useful in detecting small and very small prey species in the diet of lions and can therefore be used in future research to uncover the diverse diet composition of these large carnivores. The consistent presence of smaller prey species in the diet indicates that lions generally supplement their large prey diet with smaller prey.

opencc-zeroJul 2023View details →

dryad36/100

Data for: Energetic consequences of prey type in little penguins (Eudyptula minor)

Investigation of foraging decisions can help understand how animals efficiently gather and exploit food. Prey chase and handling times are important aspects of foraging efficiency, influencing the net energy gain derived from a prey item. However, these metrics are often overlooked in studies of foraging behaviour due to the difficulty in observing them. The present study used animal-borne cameras to investigate the type, duration and energetic consequences of predator-prey interactions in little penguins (Eudyptula minor) (n = 32) from two colonies in Bass Strait, south-eastern Australia. A total of 7 main prey items were observed and consumed by little penguins. Penguins were observed to consume prey types and use strategies that have not been previously documented. These included consumption of bellowsfish (Macroramphosus scolopax) and other fish species captured sheltering around jellyfish or extracted dead from the tentacles. Chase and handling time varied with prey type and lasted ~2 s for most prey. Profitability varied amongst prey types, with a greater amount of low profitable prey being consumed, suggesting a trade-off between minimising energetic costs, and increasing capture rates. These results highlight the use of animal-borne video data loggers to further understand the foraging adaptations of important predators in the marine environment.

opencc-zeroAug 2023View details →

zenodo36/100

Data for the paper Prey consumption does not restore hydration state but mitigates the energetic costs of water deprivation in an insectivorous lizard

Morphological and physiological data for the paper untitled "Prey consumption does not restore hydration state but mitigates the energetic costs of water deprivation in an insectivorous lizard" published in Journal of Experimental Biology in 2023 Additionnal data on statistical analysis and model summary

opencc-by-4.0Aug 2023View details →

zenodo36/100

Killer whale acoustic patterns respond to prey abundance and environmental variability around the Prince Edward Islands, Southern Ocean

Killer whales are apex predators with temporally and spatially varying distributions throughout the world’s oceans. Their ecology and behaviour are poorly understood in most regions due to limited research, often because of logistical challenges. Here, we use easily deployable year-round passive acoustic monitoring device to investigate the seasonal acoustic occurrence and diel vocalizing behaviour of killer whales around the remote sub-Antarctic Prince Edward Islands (PEIs), Southern Ocean. Killer whales showed diel vocalizing patterns that varied seasonally in relation to their prey abundance and social activities. Killer whale calls were intermittently detected year-round with a high number of hours containing calls in October through December, and a secondary peak in March through May, which corresponded to the abundance of seal prey. Random forest modelling identified wind speed as an important predictor of the occurrence of killer whale calls whilst sea surface height, chlorophyll-a, and sea surface temperature were moderately important. We provide the first acoustic evidence that killer whale occurrence around PEIs coincide with variability in environmental conditions and prey abundance. Our results provide the first indication of diel vocalizing pattern of killer whales in the Southern Ocean. This knowledge is important for understanding killer whale ecology and adaptation to the changing oceans.

opencc-by-4.0Jun 2023View details →

dryad36/100

Tropical and temperate differences in the trophic structure and aquatic prey use of riparian predators

The influence of aquatic resource-inputs on terrestrial communities is poorly understood, particularly in the tropics. We used stable isotope analysis of carbon and nitrogen to trace aquatic prey use and quantify impact on trophic structure in 240 riparian arthropod communities in tropical and temperate forests. Riparian predators consumed more aquatic prey and were more trophically diverse in the tropics than temperate regions, indicating tropical riparian communities are both more reliant on, and impacted by, aquatic resources than temperate communities. This suggests they are more vulnerable to disruption of aquatic-terrestrial linkages. Although aquatic resource use declined strongly with distance from water, we observed no correlated change in trophic structure, suggesting trophic flexibility to changing resource availability within riparian predator communities in both tropical and temperate regions. Our findings highlight the importance of aquatic resources for riparian communities, especially in the tropics, but suggest distance from water is less important than resource diversity in maintaining terrestrial trophic structure.

opencc-zeroSep 2023View details →

dryad36/100

Spatial separation of prey from livestock facilitates coexistence of a specialized large carnivore with human land use

There is an increasing emphasis in conservation strategies for large carnivores on facilitating their coexistence with humans. Justification for coexistence strategies should be based on a quantitative assessment of currently remaining large carnivores in human-dominated landscapes. An essential part of a carnivore's coexistence strategy has to rely on its prey. In this research, we studied snow leopards Panthera uncia whose habitat mainly comprises human-dominated, unprotected areas, to understand how a large carnivore and its primary prey, the bharal Pseudois nayaur, could coexist with human land use activities in a large proportion of its range. Using a combination of livestock census, camera trapping and wildlife surveys, across a broad gradient of livestock grazing intensity in a 363,000 km2 landscape on the Tibetan Plateau, we found no evidence of livestock grazing impacts on snow leopard habitat use, bharal density and spatial distribution, even though livestock density was 13 times higher than bharal density. Bharal were found to prefer utilizing more rugged habitats at higher elevations with lower grass forage conditions, whereas livestock dominated in flat valleys at lower elevations with higher productivity, especially during the resource-scarce season. These findings suggest that the spatial niche separation between bharal and livestock, together with snow leopards' specialized bharal diet, minimized conflicts and allowed snow leopards and bharal to coexist in landscapes dominated by livestock grazing. In recent years, reduced hunting and nomadic herder's lifestyle changes towards permanent residence may have further reinforced this spatial separation. Our results indicated that, for developing conservation strategies for large carnivores, the niche of their prey in relation to human land-use is a key variable that needs to be evaluated.

opencc-zeroSep 2023View details →

dryad36/100

Data and R code for: Handling- or digestion-limited predator: the role of body masses and habitat complexity in predator-prey feeding interaction

Predator functional response is a key element of feeding interactions that quantify the per capita feeding rates of predators depending on prey density, and variation in its parameters is strongly associated with interaction strength and population dynamics. We studied 18 functional responses of the marine whelk-bivalve systems across three levels of predator body size and three prey species at two habitat structures. We found that the marine whelk can be a handling-limited predator which received less attention so far. We propose that the handling-limited predator can further be categorized into two types: pursuing-limited (where maximum feeding rate could be influenced by habitat complexity) and ingesting-limited (where maximum feeding rate is impacted not by habitat complexity, but predator-prey body mass ratios and prey defense strategy). Our results show that handling time scales negatively with predator-prey body mass ratios, but there are layers of complexity nested within this trend. We first provide an underlying mechanism of this trend is the transition from handling to digestion limitation with increasing predator-prey body mass ratios. In addition to confirming known body mass ratios and habitat structure effects, our study confirms the importance of prey types. Our study reveals that simple assumptions about body masses and prey defense strategy may usefully refine estimates of feeding interactions in complex food webs.

opencc-zeroSep 2023View details →

dryad36/100

Joint species distribution modeling reveals a changing prey landscape for North Pacific right whales on the Bering shelf

The eastern North Pacific right whale (NPRW) is the most endangered population of whale and has been observed north of its core feeding ground in recent years with low sea ice extent. Sea ice and water temperature are important drivers for zooplankton dynamics within the whale's core feeding ground in the southeastern Bering Sea, seasonally forming stable fronts along the shelf that give rise to distinct zooplankton communities. A northward shift in NPRW distribution driven by changing distribution of prey resources could put this species at increased risk of entanglement and vessel strikes. We modeled the abundance of NPRW prey, Calanus glacialis, Neocalanus, and Thysanoessa species, using a dynamic biophysical food web model of nine zooplankton guilds in the Bering shelf zooplankton community during a period of warming (2006–2016). This model is unique from prior zooplankton studies from the region in that it includes density dependence, thereby allowing us to ask whether species interactions influence zooplankton dynamics. Modeling confirmed the importance of sea ice and ocean temperature to zooplankton dynamics in the region. Density-independent growth drove community dynamics while dependent factors were comparatively minimal. Overall, Calanus responded to environmental terms, with the strength and direction of response driven by copepodite stage. Neocalanus and Thysanoessa responses were weaker, likely due to their primary occurrence on the outer shelf. We also modeled the steady-state (equilibrium) abundance of Calanus in conditions with and without wind gusts to test whether advection of outer shelf species might disrupt steady-state dynamics of Calanus abundance; results did not support disruption. Given the annual fall sampling design, we interpret our results as follows: low ice-extent winters induced stronger spring winds and weakened fronts on the shelf, thereby advecting some outer shelf species into the study region; increased development rates in these warm conditions influenced the proportion of C. glacialis copepodite stages over the season. Residual correlation suggests missing drivers, possibly predators and phytoplankton bloom composition. Given the continued loss of sea ice in the region and projected continued warming, our findings suggest that C. glacialis will move northward, and thus, whales may move northward to continue targeting them.

opencc-zeroOct 2023View details →

dryad36/100

Individual survival is dictated by group personality in a marsh ecosystem predator-prey interaction

Predator–prey interactions structure ecological communities, and personality can significantly mediate these interactions. Personality expression is often contingent on social context, suggesting that group personality may be key in determining the outcomes of predator encounters. Here we test the influence of individual personality and group composition on survival of the marsh periwinkle, Littoraria irrorata, when exposed to its main predator, the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, both integral players in mediating the productivity and health of salt marsh ecosystems. Personality varied along a bold-shy continuum and was unrelated to shell length, though neither trait influenced survival when individual snails were exposed to a predator. However, when snails were partitioned into groups differing in personality composition, snails in groups with bold individuals had higher survival than those in groups with none. While group type did not influence the survival of bold snails, shy snails performed significantly better in mixed groups: the presence of a few bold individuals emerged as especially effective in decreasing mortality of shy snails. The effect of personality on predator escape is thus conditional on group personality composition, indicating that social context can directly impact the survival and success of its individual members, with broad implications for community dynamics.

opencc-zeroOct 2023View details →

dryad36/100