Find research datasets worth reusing
Search datasets from major research repositories and use ShareScore to quickly assess how well each record supports discovery, access, and reuse.
72
datasets available to search
ShareScore release 0.9.0
Dataset results
72 results for “antipredator”
Evidence for individual discrimination and numerical assessment in collective antipredator behaviour in wild jackdaws (Corvus monedula)
Collective responses to threats occur throughout the animal kingdom but little is known about the cognitive processes underpinning them. Antipredator mobbing is one such response. Approaching a predator may be highly risky, but the individual risk declines and the likelihood of repelling the predator increases in larger mobbing groups. The ability to appraise the number of conspecifics involved in a mobbing event could therefore facilitate strategic decisions about whether to join. Mobs are commonly initiated by recruitment calls, which may provide valuable information to guide decision-making. We tested whether the number of wild jackdaws responding to recruitment calls was influenced by the number of callers. As predicted, playbacks simulating three or five callers tended to recruit more individuals than playbacks of one caller. Recruitment also substantially increased if recruits themselves produced calls. These results suggest that jackdaws use individual vocal discrimination to assess the number of conspecifics involved in initiating mobbing events, and use this information to guide their responses. Our results show support for the use of numerical assessment in antipredator mobbing responses and highlight the need for a greater understanding of the cognitive processes involved in collective behaviour.
Dazzled by shine: gloss as an antipredator strategy in fast moving prey
<p>Previous studies on stationary prey have found mixed results for the role of gloss in predator avoidance – some have found that gloss can act as warning colouration or improve camouflage, whereas others detected no survival benefit. An alternative untested hypothesis is that gloss could provide protection in the form of dynamic dazzle. Fast-moving animals that are glossy produce flashes of light that increase in frequency at higher speeds, which could make it harder for predators to track and accurately locate prey. We tested this hypothesis by presenting praying mantids with glossy or matte targets moving at slow and fast speeds. Mantids were less likely to strike glossy targets, independently of speed. Additionally, we found that compared to matte targets, mantids were less likely to track glossy targets and more likely to hit the target with one rather than both raptorial arms, but only when targets were moving fast. These results support the hypothesis that gloss may have a function as an antipredator strategy by reducing the ability of predators to track and accurately target fast-moving prey. </p>
Evidence for individual discrimination and numerical assessment in collective antipredator behaviour in wild jackdaws (Corvus monedula)
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
Eyespot peek-a-boo: Leaf rolls enhance the antipredator effect of insect eyespots
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
Antipredator responses towards cat fur in wild brown rats tested in a semi-natural environment
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
Dazzled by shine: gloss as an antipredator strategy in fast moving prey
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
Data from: Asymmetrical predation intensity produces divergent antipredator behaviors in primary and secondary prey
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
An invasive amphibian drives antipredator responses in two prey at different trophic positions
<p>Generalist invasive predators consume prey at different trophic levels and generate drastic changes in local communities. However, the long-term effects of predation may be reduced by eco-evolutionary responses of native populations. The capacity of prey species distributed across the trophic network to develop antipredator responses may determine the ecosystem potential to buffer against the invader. The African clawed frog is a major invader on several continents. Because of its large size, generalist diet, and aquatic lifestyle, we predicted the development of antipredator responses in prey species at different trophic levels. We tested for behavioral shifts between populations within and outside the invasive range in the herbivorous snail Physella acuta and the predatory heteropteran, the backswimmer Notonecta glauca. We detected antipredator responses in both prey species. In sympatry, P. acuta stayed higher in the water column, while N. glauca spent more time swimming underwater and less time surfacing when the predator cues were present. In allopatry, P. acuta dived deeper and N. glauca spent more time surfacing and stayed longer still underwater. In both species, sympatric populations showed evidence of olfactory recognition of the frog. Our results show that the introduction of a top predator like Xenopus laevis in the pond ecosystem drives behavioral antipredator responses in species across the trophic network. Eco-evolutionary processes may allow some degree of long-term resilience of pond communities to the invasion of X. laevis.</p>
Vicuna antipredator diel movement drives spatial nutrient subsidies in a high Andean ecosystem
<p>Large animals could be important drivers of spatial nutrient subsidies when they ingest resources in some habitats and release them in others, even moving nutrients against elevational gradients. In high Andean deserts, vicuñas (<em>Vicugna vicugna</em>) move daily between nutrient-rich wet meadows, where there is abundant water and forage but high risk of predation by pumas (<em>Puma concolor</em>), and nutrient-poor open plains with lower risk of predation. In all habitats, vicuñas defecate and urinate in communal latrines. We investigated how these latrines impacted soil and plant nutrient concentrations across three habitats in the Andean ecosystem (meadows, plains, and canyons), and used stable isotope analysis to explore the source of fecal nutrients in latrines. Latrine soils had higher concentrations of nitrogen, carbon, and other nutrients than did non-latrine soils across all habitats. These inputs corresponded with an increase in plant quality (lower C:N) at latrine sites in plains and canyons, but not in meadows. Stable isotope mixing models suggest that ~7% of nutrients in plains latrines originated from vegetation in meadows, which is disproportionately higher than the relative proportion of meadow habitat (2.6%) in the study area. In contrast, ~68% of nutrients in meadow latrines appear to originate from plains and canyon vegetation, though these habitats made up nearly 98% of the study area. Vicuña diel movements thus appear to concentrate nutrients in latrines within habitats and to drive cross-habitat nutrient subsidies, with disproportionate transport from low-lying, nutrient-rich meadows to more elevated, nutrient-poor plains. Scaling these results up to the landscape scale, the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus subsidized in soil at plains latrines was of the same order of magnitude as estimates of annual atmospheric nitrogen and phosphorus deposition for this region (albeit far more localized and patchy). Thus, vicuña-mediated nutrient redistribution and deposition appears to be an important process impacting ecosystem functioning in arid Andean environments, on par with other major inputs of nutrients to the system.</p>
Maternal investment and early thermal conditions affect performance and antipredator responses
<p>Exposure to increased temperatures during early development can lead to phenotypic plasticity in morphology, physiology, and behaviour across a range of ectothermic animals. In addition, maternal effects are known to be important contributors to phenotypic variation in offspring. Whether the two factors interact to shape offspring morphology and behaviour has been barely explored. This is critical since climate change is expected to impact both incubation temperature and maternal resource allocation and stress levels. Using a fully factorial design, and Bayesian multivariate mixed models, we explored how the manipulation of early thermal environment and yolk-quantity in eggs affected the morphology, performance and antipredator behaviour of two sympatric Australian skink species (<em>Lampropholis delicata</em> and <em>L. guichenoti</em>). We found that juveniles from the hot treatment were larger than those on the cold treatment in <em>L. guichenoti</em> but not <em>L. delicata</em>. Using repeated behavioural measures for individual lizards, we found an interaction between incubation temperature and maternal investment in performance, with running speed being affected in a species-specific way by the treatment. We predicted that changes in performance should influence antipredator responses. In support of this prediction, we found that maternal investment impacted antipredator behaviour, with animals from the yolk-reduced and cold treatment resuming activity faster after a simulated predatory attack in <em>L. delicata</em>. However, the prediction was not supported in <em>L. guichenoti</em>. Our results highlight the importance of exploring the multifaceted role that environments play across generations to understand how different anthropogenic factors will impact wildlife in the future.</p>
Antipredator behaviors in urban settings: Ecological experimentation powered by citizen science
<p><span>1. Animal behaviors are often modified in urban settings due to changes in species assemblages and interactions. The ability of prey to respond to a predator is a critical behavior, but </span><span>urban populations may experience altered predation pressure, food supplementation, and other human-mediated disturbances that modify their responsiveness to predation risk and promote habituation.</span></p> <p><span>2. Citizen-science programs generally focus on the collection and analysis of observational data (e.g., bird checklists), but there has been increasing interest in the engagement of citizen scientists for ecological experimentation.</span></p> <p><span>3. Our goal was to implement a behavioral experiment in which citizen scientists recorded antipredator behaviors in wild birds occupying urban areas. In North America, increasing populations of Accipiter hawks have colonized suburban and urban areas and regularly prey upon birds that frequent backyard bird feeders. This scenario, of an increasingly common avian predator hunting birds near human dwellings, offers a unique opportunity to characterize antipredator behaviors within urban passerines. </span></p> <p><span>4. For two winters, we engaged citizen scientists in Chicago, IL, USA to deploy a playback experiment and record antipredator behaviors in backyard birds. If backyard birds maintained their antipredator behaviors, we hypothesized that birds would decrease foraging behaviors and increase vigilance in response to a predator cue (hawk playback) but that these responses would be mediated by flock size, presence of sentinel species, body size, tree cover, and amount of surrounding urban area. </span></p> <p><span>5. Using a randomized control–treatment design, citizen scientists at 15 sites recorded behaviors from 3,891 individual birds representing 22 species. Birds were more vigilant and foraged less during the playback of a hawk call, and these responses were strongest for individuals within larger flocks and weakest in larger-bodied birds. We did not find effects of sentinel species, tree cover, or urbanization. </span></p> <p><span>6. By deploying a behavioral experiment, we found that backyard birds inhabiting urban landscapes largely maintained antipredator behaviors of increased vigilance and decreased foraging in response to predator cues. Experimentation in citizen science poses challenges (e.g., observation bias, sample size limitations, reduced complexity in protocol design), but unlike programs focused solely on observational data, experimentation allows researchers to disentangle the complex factors underlying animal behavior and species interactions. </span></p>
Group augmentation on trial: helpers in small groups enhance antipredator defence of eggs
<p>Mechanisms selecting for the evolution of cooperative breeding are hotly debated. While kin selection theory has been the central paradigm to explain the seemingly altruistic behaviour of non-reproducing helpers, it is increasingly recognized that direct fitness benefits may be highly relevant. The group augmentation hypothesis proposes that alloparental care may evolve to enhance group size when larger groups yield increased survival and/or reproductive success. However, there is a lack of empirical tests. Here we use the cooperatively breeding cichlid fish Neolamprologus pulcher, in which group size predicts survival and group stability, to test this hypothesis experimentally by prompting two cooperative tasks: defence against an egg predator and digging out sand from the breeding shelter. We controlled for alternative mechanisms such as kin selection, load-lightening and coercion. As predicted by the group augmentation hypothesis, helpers increased defence against an egg predator in small compared to large groups. This difference was only evident in large helpers due to size-specific task specialization. Furthermore, helpers showed more digging effort in the breeding chamber compared to alternative personal shelters, indicating that digging was an altruistic service to the dominant breeders.</p>
Ineffective integration of multiple antipredator defences in a rotifer: a low-cost insurance?
<p><span>To maximize survival, prey often integrates multiple anti-predator defenses. How the defenses interact to reduce predation risk is, however, poorly known. We used the rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus to investigate how morphological (spines) and behavioral (floating) defenses are integrated against a common predatory rotifer, Asplanchna brightwellii, and if their combined use improves survival. To this end, we assessed the cost of the behavioral defense and the efficiency of both defenses, individually and combined, as well as their mutual dependency. The results show that </span><span>the behavioral defense is costly in reducing foraging activity, and that the two defenses are used simultaneously, with the presence of the morphological defense enhancing the use of the behavioral defense, as does</span><span> the pre-exposure to predator cues</span><span>. However, while t</span><span>he morphological defense reduces predation risk, the behavioral defense does not, thus, adding the costly behavioral defense to the morphological defense does not improve survival. It is likely that the cost of the behavioral defense is low given its reversibility – compared to the cost of misidentifying the predator species – and that this has promoted the adoption of both defenses, as general low-cost insurance rather than as a tailored strategy toward specific predators. Thus, the optimal strategy in the rotifer appears to be to express both morphological and behavioral defenses when confronted with the cues of a potential predator.</span></p>
Effects of human and non-human predation risk on antipredator movement behaviors of an upland game bird
<p>Predators can elicit antipredator behaviors in prey such as proactive and reactive movements, but both are rarely investigated simultaneously. Impacts of human predation risk on antipredator behaviors can potentially be greater than non-human predators, resulting in increased effects on populations and community structure. Therefore, we compared the influence of human and non-human predation risk on proactive and reactive antipredator movement behaviors of a commonly harvested game bird, male Eastern wild turkeys (<em>Meleagris</em> <em>gallopavo</em>, hereafter turkey). We used simultaneously collected GPS locations from 31 turkeys and 36 coyotes (<em>Canis</em> <em>latrans</em>) to investigate antipredator behavior of turkeys to coyotes. To assess antipredator behaviors by turkeys to hunters, we used 1,661 hunting tracks collected while monitoring 109 turkeys. Specifically, for proactive movements, we quantified how predation risk influenced resource selection. To investigate reactive movements, we quantified changes in movement behavior of turkeys after encountering hunters and coyotes. Coyotes and turkeys were sympatric on the landscape as home range overlap was high, but lack of core area overlap, encounters, and similar resource selection suggested use of different areas on the landscape. Turkeys selected areas associated with decreased coyote risk and closer to hardwoods. Coyotes preferred shrubs and open areas, suggesting turkeys avoided coyote risk and the habitats coyotes preferred. We detected 17 coyote and turkey contacts, and probability of a contact decreased by 16.6% for every 100m farther from a forest edge. Turkeys did not display reactive movement behaviors after a direct encounter with coyotes, as step lengths were similar prior and after encounters, which did not differ from random step lengths. After the onset of hunting, turkeys selected to be farther away from public access points and closer to private property, suggesting proactive avoidance of areas associated with increased hunter predation risk. We detected 31 hunter and turkey contacts, step lengths after hunter contacts were approximately double compared to random step lengths. The probability of a hunter-turkey contact decreased by 5.5% for every 100m farther from a secondary road. Collectively, antipredator movement behaviors by turkeys suggest coyote risk to be low over a broad temporal window as we only documented proactive movement behaviors. Conversely, hunter risk is high for a short temporal window while hunting is occurring, as we documented both proactive and reactive movement behavior responses. Overall, we provide insight into how human-induced fear can cause antipredator behavioral responses greater than non-human fear, potentially causing changes in species distribution and community structure.</p>
Data from: Neighbor density and post-contact immobility duration as antipredator behavior: Antlion larvae do not fit the selfish prey hypothesis
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
Don't leave the past behind: Larval experience shapes pupal antipredator response in Aedes aegypti
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
Ineffective integration of multiple antipredator defences in a rotifer: a low-cost insurance?
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
An invasive amphibian drives antipredator responses in two prey at different trophic positions
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
Data from: Food-safety trade-offs drive dynamic behavioral antipredator responses among snowshoe hares
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
Vicuna antipredator diel movement drives spatial nutrient subsidies in a high Andean ecosystem
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
ScienceDex guides
Understand access before you commit
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.