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39 results for “predator distribution”
MCR LTER: Coral Reef: Growth-predation risk trade-offs constrain the local distribution of a thicket-forming staghorn coral to marginal reef habitats; Data for Ladd et al., 2025, Scientific Reports.
This dataset is in support of the manuscript: Growth-predation risk tradeoffs constrain the local distribution of a thicket-forming staghorn coral to marginal reef habitats. These data were collected to 1) document how Acropora pulchra is distributed around the island of Moorea, and 2) to better understand the ecological processes that shape that distribution. Data include 1) results from surveys around the island of Moorea documenting the presence and size distribution of Acropora pulchra thickets, 2) results from an experiment measuring the growth and survivorship of Acropora pulchra fragments in the presence and absence of fish predators at nearshore fringing reef sites and adjacent sites in the mid lagoon (n = 20 sites in total), and 3) ancillary data on nitrogen content and dN15 in the tissue of the macroalgae Turbinaria ornata, sediment accumulation, and corallivore biomass at the experimental sites. All data were collected in 2016 and 2017.
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.
Invasive species and thermal squeeze: Distribution of two invasive predators and drivers of ship rat (Rattus rattus) invasion in mid-elevation Fuscospora forest
This data package is from a trapping network set up in Craigieburn Forest Park, New Zealand, in 2013. These are records of the stoats and rats caught in the traps each time the traps were checked by volunteers since 2013. Associated long term air temperature and seedfall data from the Craigieburn area is also provided. If the original trapping records (containing more mammalian catch information such as weasels and cats) are required please contact the data providers.
The biogeography of community assembly: latitude and predation drive variation in community trait distribution in a guild of epifaunal crustaceans
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The past, present, and future of predator-prey interactions in a warming world: using species distribution modeling to forecast ectotherm-endotherm niche overlap
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Seaside Sparrow nest location, fate, and nest predator distribution data
<p>Nest failure for coastal marsh bird species is primarily caused by predation and nest flooding. As sea level rise makes nest flooding more likely, the threat of nest predation will constrain the potential adaptive responses of marsh nesting species. Thus, understanding the predictors of nest predation is important for the conservation of salt marsh-dwelling bird species, such as Seaside Sparrows (<em>Ammospiza maritima</em>; SESP). Predator activity may be influenced by landscape features (particularly habitat edges), potentially making nest predation predictable. We aimed to understand the predictability of SESP nest predation relative to two major landscape features: roads and tidal rivers, as both of these edges may be entryways or attractants for predators in marshes. In coastal Georgia, USA, we assessed mammalian predator activity relative to the two features of interest, and hypothesized that mammalian predator activity would be greater close to roads and tidal rivers. We also recorded SESP nest locations and nest predation events and hypothesized that nest predation events would increase with increasing predator activity. Consistent with our first hypothesis, mammalian predator activity increased close to roads and tidal rivers, but mammalian predator distribution did not explain the spatial variation in SESP nest predation thus not supporting our second hypothesis. SESP also placed their nests in locations with high mammalian predator activity, indicating that the ability to avoid nesting in high-risk areas may be constrained by habitat or resource limitations. Additionally, mammals may not be the primary nest predators, as we found that one bird species (Marsh Wren, <em>Cistothorus palustris</em>) contributed substantially to nest predation rates. Understanding the predictability of mammalian predator distribution can allow for focused predator management efforts, such as exclusion, to habitat edges where we found the highest mammalian predator activity, which could relax the constraint of nest predation on SESP's ability to respond to the intensifying threat of sea level rise.</p>
Challenges and opportunities of species distribution modelling of terrestrial arthropod predators
<p>Aim. Species distribution models (SDMs) have emerged as essential tools in the equipment of many ecologists, useful to explore species distributions in space and time and answering an assortment of questions related to biogeography, climate change biology and conservation biology. Historically, most SDM research concentrated on well-known organisms, especially vertebrates. In recent years, these tools are becoming increasingly important for predicting the distribution of understudied invertebrate taxa. Here, we reviewed the literature published on main terrestrial arthropod predators (ants, ground beetles and spiders) to explore some of the challenges and opportunities of species distribution modelling in mega-diverse arthropod groups. Location. Global. Methods. Systematic mapping of the literature and bibliometric analysis. Results. Most SDM studies of animals to date have focused either on broad samples of vertebrates or on arthropod species that are charismatic (e.g. butterflies) or economically important (e.g. vectors of disease, crop pests and pollinators). We show that the use of SDMs to map the geography of terrestrial arthropod predators is a nascent phenomenon, with a near-exponential growth in the number of studies over the past 10 years and still limited collaborative networks among researchers. There is a bias in studies towards charismatic species and geographical areas that hold lower levels of diversity but greater availability of data, such as Europe and North America. Conclusions. Arthropods pose particular modelling challenges that add to the ones already present for vertebrates, but they should also offer opportunities for future SDM research as data and new methods are made available. To overcome data limitations, we illustrate the potential of modern data sources and new modelling approaches. We discuss areas of research where SDMs may be combined with dispersal models and increasingly available phylogenetic and functional data to understand evolutionary changes in ranges and range-limiting traits over past and contemporary time scales.</p>
The predator activity landscape predicts the anti‐predator behavior and distribution of prey in a tundra community
<p>Predation shapes communities through consumptive and non-consumptive effects. In the latter case, prey respond to perceived predation risk through proactive or reactive risk management strategies occurring at different spatial and temporal scales. The predator-prey space race and landscape of fear concepts are useful to better understand how predation risk affects prey behavioral decisions and distribution. We assessed predation-risk effects in a terrestrial Arctic community, where the arctic fox is the main predator of ground-nesting birds. Using high frequency GPS data, we estimated a predator activity landscape corresponding to fox space use patterns, and validated with an artificial prey experiment that this predator activity landscape correlated with the predation risk landscape. We then investigated the effects of the fox activity landscape on multiple prey species, by assessing the anti-predator behavior of a main prey (snow goose) actively searched for by foxes, and the nest distribution of several incidental prey species. We first found that snow geese showed a stronger level of nest defense in areas highly used by foxes, possibly responding with a reactive strategy to variation in predation risk. Then, nests of incidental prey reproducing in habitats easily accessed by foxes had a lower probability of occurrence in areas highly used by foxes, suggesting these birds may use a proactive risk management strategy by shifting their distribution away from risky areas. For incidental prey species nesting in microhabitat refuges difficult to access by foxes, probability of nest occurrence was independent of predation risk in the surrounding area, as they avoid risk at a finer spatial scale. By tracking all individuals of the dominant predator species in our study area, we demonstrated the value of using predator space use patterns to infer spatial variation in predation risk. Overall, we highlight the diversity of risk management strategies in prey sharing a common predator, hence refining our understanding of the mechanisms driving species distribution and community structure.</p>
Data for: Prey resources are equally important as climatic conditions for predicting the distribution of a broad-ranged apex predator
<p>Aim: A current biogeographic paradigm states that climate regulates species distributions at continental scales and that biotic interactions are undetectable at coarse-grain extents. However, advances in spatial modelling show that incorporating food resource distributions are important for improving model predictions at large distribution scales. This is particularly relevant to understand the factors limiting distribution of widespread apex predators whose diets are likely to vary across their range.</p> <p>Location: Neotropical Central and South America</p> <p>Methods: The harpy eagle (<em>Harpia harpyja</em>) is a large raptor, whose diet is largely comprised of arboreal mammals, all with broad distributions across Neotropical lowland forest. Here, we used a hierarchical modelling approach to determine the relative importance of abiotic factors and prey resource distribution on harpy eagle range limits. Our hierarchical approach consisted of the following modelling sequence of explanatory variables: (a) abiotic covariates, (b) prey resource distributions predicted by an equivalent modelling for each prey, (c) the combination of (a) and (b), and (d) as in (c) but with prey resources considered as a single prediction equivalent to prey species richness.</p> <p>Results: Incorporating prey distributions improved model predictions but using solely biotic covariates still resulted in a high performing model. In the Abiotic model, Climatic Moisture Index (CMI) was the most important predictor, contributing 76 % to model prediction. Three-toed sloth (<em>Bradypus</em> spp.) was the most important prey resource, contributing 64 % in a combined Abiotic-Biotic model, followed by CMI contributing 30 %. Harpy eagle distribution had high environmental overlap across all individual prey distributions, with highest coincidence through Central America, eastern Colombia, and across the Guiana Shield into northern Amazonia. </p> <p>Main conclusions: With strong reliance on prey distributions across its range, harpy eagle conservation programs must therefore consider its most important food resources as a key element in the protection of this threatened raptor.</p>
The essential habitat role of a unique coastal inlet for a widely distributed apex predator
<p>Essential habitats support specific functions for species, such as reproduction, feeding or refuge. For highly-mobile aquatic species, identifying essential habitats within the wider distribution range is central to understanding species ecology, and underpinning effective management plans. This study examined the movement and space use patterns of sevengill sharks (<em>Notorynchus cepedianus</em>) in Caleta Valdés, a unique coastal habitat in northern Patagonia, Argentina. Seasonal residency patterns of sharks were evident, with higher detectability in late spring and early summer and lower during autumn and winter. The overlap between the residency patterns of sharks and their prey, elephant seals, suggests that Caleta Valdés functions as a seasonal feeding aggregation site for <em>N. cepedianus</em>. The study also found sexual differences in movement behavior, with males performing abrupt departures from Caleta Valdés and showing increased roaming with the presence of more sharks, and maximum detection probability at high tide. These movements could be related to different feeding strategies between sexes or mate-searching behavior, suggesting that Caleta Valdés may also be essential for reproduction. Overall, this study highlights the importance of coastal sites as essential habitats for <em>N. cepedianus</em> and deepens our understanding of the ecological role of this apex predator in marine ecosystems.</p>
Seaside Sparrow nest location, fate, and nest predator distribution data
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Data for: Prey resources are equally important as climatic conditions for predicting the distribution of a broad-ranged apex predator
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Data from: Linking landscape structure, floral resource distribution, pollen use, and movement distances of a generalist predator
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The essential habitat role of a unique coastal inlet for a widely distributed apex predator
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Data from: Pre-dispersal seed predation and pollen limitation constrain population growth across the geographic distribution of Astragalus utahensis
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The predator activity landscape predicts the anti‐predator behavior and distribution of prey in a tundra community
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Challenges and opportunities of species distribution modelling of terrestrial arthropod predators
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The shape of the predator biomass distribution affects biological pest control services in agricultural landscapes
<p>1. Understanding how community composition of service-providing organisms affects ecosystem functioning is a key challenge in ecology. Although it has been proposed that taxonomic diversity and functional traits mediate this relationship, how several facets of community structure affect the delivery of key ecosystem services remains to be explored.</p> <p>2. In this study, we investigated how abundance, taxonomic richness as well as the shape of biomass distribution in predator communities affect biological pest control services in vineyard landscapes. Our analyses were based on a dataset combining samples of arthropod predators, measures of predation rates of grape pests and characterization of environmental covariables for 42 fields located in South-Western France.</p> <p>3. We found that beside the abundance or the taxonomic richness of predators, the shape of biomass distribution (mean, variance, skewness and kurtosis of the distribution) influences the level of biological control. Predator communities largely dominated by low biomass species provided the bulk of biological control services. Lower levels of predation resulted from increased proportions of large biomass species and more evenly distributed biomass values in the communities.</p> <p>4. Our results indicate that the top-down control provided by low biomass species decreases as the relative proportion of large biomass species increases in the predator community. This suggests that biological control may be affected by negative interactions (e.g., intraguild predation, behavioural interactions) between predators arising from the recruitment of large individuals in the community.</p> <p>5. Our study revealed that the shape of biomass distribution is a major aspect of functional diversity in predator communities providing insights into the mechanisms that link biodiversity and ecosystem services. While our study focuses on biomass, considering other traits involved in trophic interactions may increase our ability to predict the level of biological control in ecosystems.</p>
Data from: Predictive modelling of habitat selection by marine predators with respect to the abundance and depth distribution of pelagic prey
1. Understanding the ecological processes that underpin species distribution patterns is a fundamental goal in spatial ecology. However, developing predictive models of habitat use is challenging for species that forage in marine environments, as both predators and prey are often highly mobile and difficult to monitor. Consequently, few studies have developed resource selection functions for marine predators based directly on the abundance and distribution of their prey. 2. We analysed contemporaneous data on the diving locations of two seabird species, the shallow-diving Peruvian Booby (Sula variegata) and deeper diving Guanay Cormorant (Phalacrocorax bougainvilliorum), and the abundance and depth distribution of their main prey, Peruvian anchoveta (Engraulis ringens). Based on this unique data set, we developed resource selection functions to test the hypothesis that the probability of seabird diving behaviour at a given location is a function of the relative abundance of prey in the upper water column. 3. For both species, we show that the probability of diving behaviour is mostly explained by the distribution of prey at shallow depths. While the probability of diving behaviour increases sharply with prey abundance at relatively low levels of abundance, support for including abundance in addition to the depth distribution of prey is weak, suggesting that prey abundance was not a major factor determining the location of diving behaviour during the study period. 4. The study thus highlights the importance of the depth distribution of prey for two species of seabird with different diving capabilities. The results complement previous research that points towards the importance of oceanographic processes that enhance the accessibility of prey to seabirds. The implications are that locations where prey is predictably found at accessible depths may be more important for surface foragers, such as seabirds, than locations where prey is predictably abundant. 5. Analysis of the relative importance of abundance and accessibility is essential for the design and evaluation of effective management responses to reduced prey availability for seabirds and other top predators in marine systems.
Data from: Patchy distribution and low effective population size raise concern for an at-risk top predator
Aim: Understanding carnivore distribution is important for management decisions that aim to restore naturally-regulated ecosystems and preserve biodiversity. Eastern Wolves, a species at risk in Canada, are centralized in Algonquin Provincial Park and their ability to disperse and establish themselves elsewhere is limited by human-caused mortality associated with hunting, trapping, and vehicle collisions. Here, we refine our understanding of Eastern Wolf distribution and provide the first estimates of their effective population size. Location: Southern Ontario and Gatineau Quebec. Methods: We used noninvasive samples, as well as blood samples archived from other research projects, collected between 2010 – 2014 to generate autosomal microsatellite genotypes at 12 loci for 98 Canis individuals. We utilized Bayesian and multivariate clustering analyses to identify Eastern Wolves in regions that were previously unsampled. Both linkage disequilibrium and temporal approaches were used to estimate effective population size of Eastern Wolves. Results: Assignment tests identified 34 individuals as Eastern Wolves, primarily in or near two provincial parks: Killarney and Queen Elizabeth II Wildlands. Eastern Coyotes were identified in Bon Echo Provincial Park, Frontenac Provincial Park, and Gatineau Park, whereas many of the samples were admixed among the different Canis types. Effective population size (Ne) estimates ranged from 24.3 – 122.1 with a harmonic mean of 45.6. Main Conclusions: The identification of Eastern Wolves in the regions of Killarney and Queen Elizabeth II Wildlands Provincial Parks extends the range of Eastern Wolves north of the French River and southward into previously unidentified regions. The effective population size is low and raises concerns for long-term persistence of this threatened carnivore; values are dangerously close to critical values recommended for short-term persistence. These results provide important information for upcoming Eastern Wolf recovery plans associated with federal and provincial endangered species legislation.
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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.