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61 results for “Predator cues”
REU data set from summer of 2022. Project was designed to understand how crayfish (Faxonius rusticus) respond to chemical cues from largemouth bass predators under different shelter distributions.
Research into predator–prey interactions has focused on the landscape of fear and nonconsumptive effects that result from prey responses. Prey behavior is influenced by predator presence and the location and quality of foraging resources in habitats. These areas have been fruitful, but the role of prey refuges has lagged. We investigated how refuge spatial distribution and quality influence prey behavior. To determine the role of the landscape of safety (LOS) in prey decision-making, we altered spatial relationships between refuges, refuge quality, and predation threats in mesocosms. Mesocosms were constructed such that prey only received predatory chemical cues. We employed a behavioral assay including largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides (Lacepède, 1802): predator) and virile crayfish (Faxonius rusticus (Girard, 1852): prey). Crayfish shelter use was significantly influenced by quality and spatial relationship of shelters to predatory threats, and the interaction of these two factors. Particularly, crayfish used high-quality shelters more often when located closer to predatory cues than farther away and did not use low-quality shelters more than controls. High-quality shelter usage decreased as threat level (measured by gape ratio) decreased. These results support the idea that prey utilize an LOS, and information contained in these two landscapes may alter behavioral decisions.
Exposure to sublethal concentrations of a pesticide or predator cues induces changes in brain architecture in larval amphibians, 2013.
Naturally occurring environmental factors shape developmental trajectories to produce variable phenotypes. Such developmental phenotypic plasticity can have important effects on fitness, and has been demonstrated for numerous behavioral and morphological traits. However, surprisingly few studies have examined developmental plasticity of the nervous system in response to naturally occurring environmental variation, despite accumulating evidence for neuroplasticity in a variety of organisms. Here, we asked whether the brain is developmentally plastic by exposing larval amphibians to natural and anthropogenic factors. Leopard frog tadpoles were exposed to predator cues, reduced food availability, or sublethal concentrations of the pesticide chlorpyrifos in semi-natural enclosures. Mass, growth, survival, activity, larval period, external morphology, brain mass, and brain morphology were measured in tadpoles and after metamorphosis. Tadpoles in the experimental treatments had lower masses than controls, although developmental rates and survival were similar. Tadpoles exposed to predator cues or a high dose of chlorpyrifos had altered body shapes compared to controls. In addition, brains from tadpoles exposed to predator cues or a low dose of chlorpyrifos were narrower and shorter in several dimensions compared to control tadpoles and tadpoles with low food availability. Interestingly, the changes in brain morphology present at the tadpole stage did not persist in the metamorphs. Our results show that brain morphology is a developmentally plastic trait that is responsive to ecologically relevant natural and anthropogenic factors. Whether these effects on brain morphology are linked to performance or fitness is unknown.
Are you scared yet? Variations to cue components elicits differential prey behavioral responses even when gape limited predators are relatively small.
Anti-predator behavior is often evoked based on measurements of risk calculated from sensory cues emanating from predators independent of physical attack. Yet, the exact sensory indices of cues used in risk assessment remain largely unknown. To examine how different predatory cue indices of information are used in risk assessment, we presented prey with various cues from sublethal gape-limited predators. Rusty crayfish (Faxonius rusticus (Girard, 1852)) were exposed to predatory odors from sublethal-sized largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides (Lacepède, 1802)) to test effects of changing predator abundance, relative size relationships, and total predator length in flow through mesocosms. Foraging, shelter use, and movement behavior were used to measure cue effects. Foraging time depended jointly upon predator abundance and total predator size (p = 0.030). Specifically, high predator abundance resulted in decreased foraging efforts as gape ratio increased. Similarly, sheltering time depended on the interaction between predator abundance and gape ratio when predator abundance was highest (p = 0.020). Crayfish significantly increased exploration time when gape ratio increased (p = 0.010). Thus, this study shows crayfish can use different indices of predatory cues, namely total predator abundance and relative size ratios, in risk assessment but do so in context-specific ways.
Interpreting the smells of predation: How alarm cues and kairomones induce different prey defenses.
1. For phenotypically plastic organisms to produce phenotypes that are well matched to their environment, they must acquire information about their environment. For inducible defences, cues from damaged prey and cues from predators both have the potential to provide important information, yet we know little about the relative importance of these separate sources of information for behavioural and morphological defences. We also do not know the point during a predation event at which kairomones are produced, i.e. whether they are produced constitutively, during prey attack or during prey digestion. 2. We exposed leopard frog tadpoles (Rana pipiens) to nine predator cue treatments involving several combinations of cues from damaged conspecifics or heterospecifics, starved predators, predators only chewing prey, predators only digesting prey or predators chewing and digesting prey. 3. We quantified two behavioural defences. Tadpole hiding behaviour was induced only by cues from crushed tadpoles. Reduced tadpole activity was induced only by cues from predators digesting tadpoles or predators chewing + digesting tadpoles. 4. We also quantified tadpole mass and two size-adjusted morphological traits that are known to be phenotypically plastic. Mass was unaffected by the cue treatments. Relative body length was affected (i.e. there were differences among some treatments), but none of the treatments significantly differed from the no-predator control. Relative tail depth was affected by the treatments and deeper tails were induced only when tadpoles were exposed to cues from predators digesting tadpoles or cues from predators chewing + digesting tadpoles. 5. These results demonstrate that some prey species can discriminate among a diverse set of potential cues from heterospecific prey, conspecific prey and predators. Moreover, the results illustrate that the cues responsible for the full suite of behavioural and morphological defences are not induced by tadpole crushing nor
Predator cues and pesticides: A double dose of danger for amphibians.
Amphibians are declining globally, and biologists have struggled to identify the causes. Pesticides may play a role in these declines, but pesticide concentrations in nature often are low and considered sublethal. Past research has found that the globally common pesticide carbaryl can become more lethal under different environmental conditions including differences in temperature and competition. A recent study has found that predatory stress, a situation common for most amphibians, can make carbaryl 2–4 times more deadly to gray tree frogs (Hyla versicolor). To determine whether this is a general phenomenon in amphibians, I examined how carbaryl affected the survival of six amphibian species in the presence and absence of predatory stress. Higher concentrations of carbaryl caused higher mortality. In two of the six species, carbaryl became even more lethal when combined with predatory stress (up to 46 times more lethal). This suggests that apparently safe concentrations of carbaryl (and perhaps other pesticides with similar modes of action) can become more deadly to some amphibian species when combined with predator cues.
Data from: A marine predator relies on both social cues and frequently updated memory to search for prey
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Data from: Steller's jays assess and communicate about predator risk using detection cues and identity
Predators can vary in the risk they pose, depending upon the factors such as body size, maneuverability, hunting strategy, and diet. Prey can also detect predators with different senses, such as seeing, hearing, or smelling them. We presented wild Steller's jays (Cyanocitta stelleri annectens) with visual cues (robotic raptors) or acoustic cues (call playbacks) of 4 different raptors to test how they assess risk and how this influences their alarm calls. The assessment of risk from different predator cues varied with different species of raptors: Jays responded to sharp-shinned hawks (Accipiter striatus) with an increase in latency to resume foraging regardless of whether they were seen or heard, whereas latency responses to northern goshawks (Accipiter gentilis) were longer if they were seen versus if they were heard. Furthermore, Steller's jays altered the acoustic structure of their alarm calls depending on the species of raptor and whether they saw or heard them. These results demonstrate that Steller's jay's assessment of risk involves an interaction between predator identity and predator detection cue and in response, they alter their acoustically-simple alarm calls in surprisingly nuanced ways.
No impact of biocontrol agent's predation cues on development time or size of surviving Aedes albopictus under optimal nutritional availability
<p>Cyclopoid copepods have been applied successfully to limit populations of highly invasive <em>Aedes albopictus</em> mosquitoes that can transmit diseases of public health importance. However, there is concern that changes in certain mosquito traits, induced by exposure to copepod predation, might increase the risk of disease transmission. In this study, third instar <em>Ae. albopictus</em> larvae, hereafter referred to as "focal individuals", were exposed to <em>Megacyclops viridis</em> predator cues associated with both consumption of newly-hatched mosquito larvae and attacks on focal individuals. The number of newly-hatched larvae surrounding each focal larva was held constant to control for density effects on size, and the focal individual's day of pupation and wing length were recorded for each replicate. Exposing late instar <em>Ae. albopictus</em> to predation decreased their chances of surviving to adulthood, and three focal larvae that died in the predator treatment showed signs of melanization, indicative of wounding. Among surviving focal <em>Ae. albopictus</em>, no significant difference in either pupation day or wing length was observed due to copepod predation. The absence of a significant sublethal impact from <em>M. viridis</em> copepod predation on surviving later-stage larvae in this analysis supports the use of <em>M. viridis</em> as a biocontrol agent against <em>Ae. albopictus</em>.</p>
One of these things is not like the other: mixed predator cues result in lopsided phenotypic responses in a Neotropical tadpole
<p>Many organisms have evolved to produce different phenotypes in response to environmental variation. <em>Dendropsophus</em> <em>ebraccatus</em> tadpoles develop opposing shifts in morphology and coloration when they are exposed to invertebrate vs vertebrate predators. Each of these alternate phenotypes is adaptive, conferring a survival advantage against the predator with which tadpoles were reared but imposing a survival cost with the mismatched predator. Here, we measured the phenotypic response of tadpoles to graded cues and mixed cues of both fish and dragonfly nymphs. Prey species like <em>D. ebraccatus</em> commonly co-occur with both of these types of predators, amongst many others as well. In our first experiment, tadpoles increased investment in defensive phenotypes in response to increasing concentrations of predator cues. Whereas morphology only differed in the strongest cue predator, tail spot coloration differed even at the lowest cue concentration. In our second experiment, tadpoles reared with cues from both predators developed an intermediate yet skewed phenotype that was most similar to the fish-induced phenotype. Fish are more lethal than dragonfly larvae and thus tadpoles responded most strongly to the more dangerous predator, even though cues of each predator were evenly mixed. We demonstrate that not only do tadpoles assess predation risk via the concentration of predation cues in the water, but they also produce a stronger response to a more lethal predator even when the strength of cues is identical.</p>
Data from: Functionally redundant multimodal predator cues elicit changes in prey foraging behavior
<p><span>Many prey species can assess the risk of predation from information acquired through different sensory systems. For many animals, this information is detected with sensory organs specialized for visual (sight) or chemical (smell or taste) stimuli. It is unclear, however, whether information acquired through multiple sensory systems is functionally redundant or interchangeable, especially if the message is the same. Here we assess prey response to unimodal visual and chemical cues as well as multimodal (visual + chemical) cues. We specifically test if a foraging individual shows a stronger behavioral response to risk when they can perceive that risk through multimodal versus unimodal cues. To do this, we measured the functional response (prey abundance-foraging rate relationship) of Tibellus oblongus spiders foraging on midges while exposing them to visual stimuli, chemical stimuli, or a combination of both visual and chemical stimuli from potential predators. We then determined if the spider's functional response for the multimodal treatment differed more strongly from a control treatment than from either unimodal treatment. We found that under any simulated predation risk (multimodal and both unimodal), T. oblongus spiders showed longer handling times than in control groups without risk. </span><span>However, we saw no elevated anti-predator response in the multimodal treatment, suggesting that information from visual and chemical modalities is interchangeable and sufficient to indicate reliably predation risk. </span></p>
Data from: Highlighting potential physical and chemical cues involved in conspecific recognition system in a predator nematode, Seinura caverna
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Conspecific recognition is the ability to distinguish and respond to individuals of the same species. In nematodes, this behavior can mediate aggregation, feeding behavior, or mating. Here, we investigated whether and how the predatory nematode <em>Seinura caverna</em> recognizes and avoids conspecifics to prey on. In predation assays, <em>S. caverna</em> did not kill conspecifics, but killed nematodes of three heterospecific species. Interestingly, <em>S. caverna</em> did not kill <em>Ektaphelenchoides</em> <em>spondylis</em> nematodes. <em>S. caverna</em> did not eject its stylet when encountering conspecifics or <em>E. spondylis</em>. The characterization of the internal cuticle structure of 13 nematode species suggested that the cuticle may play a role in the preying decision, as <em>E. spondylis</em> and <em>S. caverna</em> exhibited similar, type III, cuticle layers. Chemical extracts from <em>S.</em> <em>caverna</em> further repelled conspecifics. We discuss the potential hierarchical use of physical and chemical cues in <em>S. caverna</em> predation behavior and provide insights into the evolutionary adaptations and behavior of this organism. </span></p>
Effects of early predation and social cues on the relationship between laterality and personality in the Threespined stickleback
<p>Individual differences in laterality and personality are expected to covary, as emotions are processed differently by the two hemispheres and personality involves emotional behavior. Fish species are often used to investigate this topic due to the large variability in personality and laterality patterns. While some species show a positive relationship between lateralization strength and boldness, others show a negative relationship, and some show no relationship. To investigate whether this relationship follows changes in laterality and personality, we conducted a fully factorial design experiment manipulating predation and group size during early development. Results showed that the strength of laterality was influenced by predation threat, while social tendency and boldness were influenced by group size. These findings suggest that early life conditions can have an impact on laterality and social behavior. The relationship between laterality and personality traits, while present, was heavily influenced by the specific trial conditions, but not by the different developmental conditions.</p>
White-tailed deer responses to predator cues depend upon past land use and contemporary fire regime
<p>Prey can assess immediate risk of predation by detecting cues of predator presence, and it is expected that prey should invest in costly antipredator behaviors when a cue of predator presence is detected. Features of the habitat in which the cue is detected, such as vegetative concealment, serve as indirect cues of risk and can mediate how prey respond to direct cues of predator presence. Past agricultural land use and contemporary fire regime are common disturbances that may modify prey perceptions of risk and could therefore alter prey responses to direct cues of predator presence. We examined whether the overlap of these two disturbances affected white-tailed deer (<em>Odocoileus virginianus</em>) responses to cues of predator presence by measuring deer vigilance and foraging bout duration in response to coyote (<em>Canis latrans</em>) vocalizations across 20 woodlands that varied in past land use and contemporary fire regime. Frequent fire regimes consistently increased deer visibility to predators across both land-use history contexts. Deer exhibited no behavioral response to the predator cue in habitats containing infrequent fire regimes or agricultural legacies. Deer responded to the cue in frequently burned woodlands without agricultural legacies through increased vigilance and duration spent at a foraging location. These findings reveal that land-use legacies and contemporary fire regimes can mediate how prey respond to direct cues of risk. They also suggest that prey may balance the uncertainty associated with cues of predation risk with the urgency of responding to a potential attack by being vigilant and remaining in place.</p>
One of these things is not like the other: mixed predator cues result in lopsided phenotypic responses in a Neotropical tadpole
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Captive rearing reduces the sensitivity of Acartia tonsa copepods to predator cues
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Data from: Predator kairomones change food web structure and function, regardless of cues from consumed prey
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Data from: Recognition of predator cues hinders social communication
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Effects of early predation and social cues on the relationship between laterality and personality in the Threespined stickleback
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Data from: Steller’s jays assess and communicate about predator risk using detection cues and identity
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Data from: Predator activity and scent cues influence white-tailed deer behavior in a multi-predator landscape
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