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.
25
datasets available to search
ShareScore release 0.9.0
Dataset results
25 results for “prey strategy”
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>
Dazzled by shine: gloss as an antipredator strategy in fast moving prey
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
Optimal prey for red fox cubs – an example of dual optimizing foraging strategy in foxes from a dynamic wetland habitat
<p>The red fox (<em>Vulpes</em> <em>vulpes</em>) is the most abundant mesopredator in the Central-European region. Detailed knowledge about their feeding behavior is important both from ecological and wildlife management reasons. Food choices of foxes are poorly predictable in high-biodiversity marshlands. The main aim of our study was to sample parallel the main food-type abundances in the study area and analyze the diet of fox cubs and cohabiting adults across three years during the period of maternal dependence of the cubs. According to the optimal foraging theory, we predicted that the cubs' diet would show higher energy content, would be more varied, and the individual prey species fed to the young would be larger. We analyzed the composition of adult fox and cub fecal samples collected separately around dens in a marshland of western Hungary, May 2014, 2017 and 2020, when the abundance values of main food sources differed. Rodents and waterfowl dominated the diet, but their relative occurrence in the samples showed yearly variations. We found that vixens follow a dual optimizing foraging strategy regarding their provisioning of the cubs and their own diet. Adult foxes optimized their diet according to the actual yearly abundances of their main food sources. Additionally, they preferred prey items that can be consumed at the site of capture (large carrion and small individual prey items). Cubs on the other hand were provisioned with optimal high-energy food, even if those in question became less abundant in that year. Vixens mostly fed to their young either larger rodents and waterfowl, or multiple small rodents at a time – these types of prey are both optimal for transportation as a single load. Providing optimal prey at an early age in a changing environment may contribute to the ecological success of the red fox.</p>
Optimal prey for red fox cubs – an example of dual optimizing foraging strategy in foxes from a dynamic wetland habitat
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
Prey density affects predator foraging strategy in an Antarctic ecosystem
Studying the effects of prey distribution on predator behaviour is complex in systems where there are multiple prey species. The role of prey density in predator behaviour is rarely studied in closed ecosystems of one predator species and one prey species, despite these being an ideal opportunity to test these hypotheses. In this study, we investigate the effect of prey density on the foraging behaviour of a predatory species in an isolated Antarctic ecosystem of effectively a single predatory species, and a single prey species. We use resource selection models to compare prey density in areas utilised by predators (obtained from fine-scale GPS telemetry data) to prey density at randomly generated points (pseudo-absences) throughout the available area. We demonstrate that prey density of breeding Antarctic petrels (Thalassoica antarctica) is negatively associated with the probability of habitat use in its only predator, the south polar skua (Catharacta maccormicki). Skuas are less likely to utilise habitats with higher petrel densities, reducing predation in these areas but these effects are present during chick rearing only, but not during incubation. We suggest that this might be caused by successful group defense strategies employed by petrel chicks, primarily spitting oil at predators.
Data from: Prey exploitation and dispersal strategies vary among natural populations of a predatory mite
When predators commonly overexploit local prey populations, dispersal drives the dynamics in local patches, which together form a metapopulation. Two extremes in a continuum of dispersal strategies are distinguished: the "Killer" strategy, where predators only start dispersing when all prey are eliminated, and the "Milker" strategy, in which predator dispersal occurs irrespective of prey availability. Theory shows that the Milker strategy is not evolutionarily stable if local populations are well connected by dispersal. Using strains of the predatory mite Phytoseiulus persimilis, collected from 11 native populations from coastal areas in Turkey and Sicily, we investigated whether these two strategies occur in nature. In small wind tunnels, we measured dispersal rates and population dynamics of all populations in a system consisting of detached rose leaves, spider mites (Tetranychus urticae) as prey, and P. persimilis. We found significant variation in the exploitation and dispersal strategies among predator populations, but none of the collected strains showed the extreme Killer or Milker strategy. The results suggest that there is genetic variation for prey exploitation and dispersal strategies. Thus, different dispersal strategies in the Milker–Killer continuum may be selected for under natural conditions. This may affect the predator–prey dynamics in local populations and is likely to determine persistence of predator–prey systems at the metapopulation level.
Prey density affects predator foraging strategy in an Antarctic ecosystem
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
Data from: Prey exploitation and dispersal strategies vary among natural populations of a predatory mite
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
Data from: Do the antipredator strategies of shared prey mediate intraguild predation and mesopredator suppression?
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
Figure 8 in The feeding strategy of the predatory Gyrineum natator (Gastropoda: Neotaenioglossa: Ranellidae) in the Cape d'Aguilar Marine Reserve, Hong Kong, with a review of sulphuric acid use in prey access by the Tonnoidea and experimentally derived estimates of consumption
Figure 8. Gyrineum natator. Phase-contrast micrographs of the salivary glands of three individuals following treatment with barium chloride for 50 minutes. (A–C) Three untreated controls; (D–F) three treated individuals.
Figure 2 in The feeding strategy of the predatory Gyrineum natator (Gastropoda: Neotaenioglossa: Ranellidae) in the Cape d'Aguilar Marine Reserve, Hong Kong, with a review of sulphuric acid use in prey access by the Tonnoidea and experimentally derived estimates of consumption
Figure 2. Gyrineum natator. The holes made in four shells (A–D) of Saccostrea mordax by individuals held in experimental aquaria. Only A shows a near-circular access hole, but other irregular ones (B–D) appear to have been created by acid attack as there would be no need for the radula alone to make such large holes.
Figure 4 in The feeding strategy of the predatory Gyrineum natator (Gastropoda: Neotaenioglossa: Ranellidae) in the Cape d'Aguilar Marine Reserve, Hong Kong, with a review of sulphuric acid use in prey access by the Tonnoidea and experimentally derived estimates of consumption
Figure 4. Gyrineum natator. The relationship between shell height (in mm) and wet tissue weights [Log(W + 1) (in grams)] of seven individuals including the two experimental animals with shell heights of 34.6 and 33.6 mm.
Figure 5 in The feeding strategy of the predatory Gyrineum natator (Gastropoda: Neotaenioglossa: Ranellidae) in the Cape d'Aguilar Marine Reserve, Hong Kong, with a review of sulphuric acid use in prey access by the Tonnoidea and experimentally derived estimates of consumption
Figure 5. Gyrineum natator. The accumulated % wet tissue weights of oyster tissues consumed by the two approximately equal-sized individuals of G. natator held in filtered and unfiltered seawater aquaria.
Figure 1 in The feeding strategy of the predatory Gyrineum natator (Gastropoda: Neotaenioglossa: Ranellidae) in the Cape d'Aguilar Marine Reserve, Hong Kong, with a review of sulphuric acid use in prey access by the Tonnoidea and experimentally derived estimates of consumption
Figure 1. Gyrineum natator. The living animal as seen from the ventral aspect crawling on an upturned sheet of glass immersed in seawater, and showing the extended proboscis.
Figure 7 in The feeding strategy of the predatory Gyrineum natator (Gastropoda: Neotaenioglossa: Ranellidae) in the Cape d'Aguilar Marine Reserve, Hong Kong, with a review of sulphuric acid use in prey access by the Tonnoidea and experimentally derived estimates of consumption
Figure 7. Gyrineum natator. (A) A transverse section through one of the paired salivary glands and the associated pharyngeal (oesophageal) gland; (B) developing salivary gland tubules at the outer edge of the salivary gland; (C) fully developed sulphuric acid producing salivary gland cells; (D) a transverse section through a pharyngeal (oesophageal) gland tubule; (E) a transverse section through the salivary gland/pharyngeal gland duct.
Figure 3 in The feeding strategy of the predatory Gyrineum natator (Gastropoda: Neotaenioglossa: Ranellidae) in the Cape d'Aguilar Marine Reserve, Hong Kong, with a review of sulphuric acid use in prey access by the Tonnoidea and experimentally derived estimates of consumption
Figure 3. Saccostrea mordax. The relationship between total weight [Log(TotW + 1) (in grams)] and wet tissue weights [Log(W + 1) (in grams)] of the 34 oyster individuals.
Figure 9 in The feeding strategy of the predatory Gyrineum natator (Gastropoda: Neotaenioglossa: Ranellidae) in the Cape d'Aguilar Marine Reserve, Hong Kong, with a review of sulphuric acid use in prey access by the Tonnoidea and experimentally derived estimates of consumption
Figure 9. Gyrineum natator. Phase-contrast micrographs of (A) the salivary gland and (B) the pharyngeal (oesophageal) gland after treatment with barium chloride for 50 minutes.
Figure 6 in The feeding strategy of the predatory Gyrineum natator (Gastropoda: Neotaenioglossa: Ranellidae) in the Cape d'Aguilar Marine Reserve, Hong Kong, with a review of sulphuric acid use in prey access by the Tonnoidea and experimentally derived estimates of consumption
Figure 6. Gyrineum natator. The foregut anatomy, as seen from the dorsal aspect, and showing the hypertrophied and paired salivary glands and the single pharyngeal (oesophageal) gland. Redrawn after Taylor (1998).
Data from: Fine-scale analysis of an assassin bug's behaviour: predatory strategies to bypass the sensory systems of prey
Some predators sidestep environments that render them conspicuous to the sensory systems of prey. However, these challenging environments are unavoidable for certain predators. Stenolemus giraffa is an assassin bug that feeds on web-building spiders; the web is the environment in which this predator finds its prey, but it also forms part of its preys' sophisticated sensory apparatus, blurring the distinction between environment and sensory systems. Stenolemus giraffa needs to break threads in the web that obstruct its path to the spiders, and such vibrations can alert the spiders. Using laser vibrometry, this study demonstrates how S. giraffa avoids alerting the spiders during its approach. When breaking threads, S. giraffa attenuates the vibrations produced by holding on to the loose ends of the broken thread and causing them to sag prior to release. In addition, S. giraffa releases the loose ends of a broken thread one at a time (after several seconds or minutes) and in this way spaces out the production of vibrations in time. Furthermore, S. giraffa was found to maximally reduce the amplitude of vibrations when breaking threads that are prone to produce louder vibrations. Finally, S. giraffa preferred to break threads in the presence of wind, suggesting that this araneophagic insect exploits environmental noise that temporarily impairs the spiders' ability to detect vibrations. The predatory behaviour of S. giraffa seems to be adaptated in intricate manner for bypassing the sophisticated sensory systems of web-building spiders. These findings illustrate how the physical characteristics of the environment, along with the sensory systems of prey can shape the predatory strategies of animals.
Data from: Fish prey change strategy with the direction of a threat
Predation is a fundamental interaction between species, yet it is unclear what escape strategies are effective for prey survival. Classical theory proposes that prey should either escape in a direction that conforms to a performance optimum or that is random and therefore unpredictable. Here, we show that larval zebrafish (Danio rerio) instead use a mixed strategy that may be either random or directed. This was determined by testing classic theory with measurements of the escape direction in response to a predator robot. We found that prey consistently escaped in a direction contralateral to the robot when approached from the side of the prey's body. At such an orientation, the predator appeared in the prey's central visual field and the contralateral response was consistent with a model of strategy that maximizes the distance from the predator. By contrast, when the robot approached the rostral or caudal ends of the body, and appeared in the prey's peripheral vision, the escape showed an equal probability of a contralateral or ipsilateral direction. At this orientation, a contralateral response offered little strategic advantage. Therefore, zebrafish larvae adopt an escape strategy that maximizes distance from the threat when strategically beneficial and that is otherwise random. This sensory-mediated mixed strategy may be employed by a diversity of animals and offers a new paradigm for understanding the factors that govern prey survival.
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.