Scaling up nonconsumptive effects of predators: mechanisms driving dynamics over multi-generational time scales in complex communities

了解捕食者-猎物之间的相互作用对生态系统的管理至关重要。例如，入侵性捕食者造成广泛的生态问题，其他入侵物种（植物、动物和微生物）可能影响捕食者-猎物的相互作用。通常，捕食者的生态后果被设想为杀死猎物的直接影响。然而，生态学家越来越意识到捕食者的非消耗效应的重要性，这是由于猎物为避免被捕食者杀死而采取的行为。例如，当捕食者密度增加时，猎物可能会改变它们对栖息地的利用，更多地隐藏起来，吃得更少。据推测，为了避免捕食而做出的行为反应会损害猎物的健康，并可能影响猎物的数量，就像捕食造成的直接死亡一样。这些影响可能会级联影响生态系统中的其他物种。一些短期研究表明，这种非消耗效应可以影响不同生态系统中猎物的生长速度和死亡率。本研究旨在在更长的时间尺度上扩大我们对真实群落非消耗性效应的理解，以探讨非消耗性效应对猎物丰度和生态群落结构的影响。研究人员将采用基于模型鱼类-浮游动物群落的理论和实验相结合的方法，以确定和阐明捕食者的非消耗性影响，这些影响不是由捕食者杀死猎物的直接影响引起的。非消耗效应产生于所有生态系统共同的过程，因此本研究将阐明具有普遍相关性的概念和方法，从而有利于各种生态系统的管理和管理。除了支持两名研究生的研究训练和指导外，该项目还将为大量本科生提供研究经验。该项目还包括向国家机构和公民团体展示成果，并开发关于湖泊生态系统和基本生态概念和问题的示范模块，供K-12教室演示。

Understanding predator-prey interactions is essential to the stewardship of ecosystems. For example, invasive predators cause widespread ecological problems, and other invasive species (plants, animals and microbes) may influence predator-prey interactions. Typically the ecological consequences of predators are envisioned as the direct effects of killing prey. Ecologists are, however, becoming increasingly aware of the importance of non-consumptive effects of predators, which result from prey behaviors to avoid being killed by predators. For example, when predator density increases, prey may change their use of habitat, hide more, and eat less. Behavioral responses to avoid predation are hypothesized to cost the prey's fitness and may affect the prey population as much as direct mortality from predation. These effects may then cascade to affect other species in the ecosystem. A number of short-term studies have demonstrated that such non-consumptive effects can affect prey growth rate and death rate in diverse ecosystems. This study is designed to scale up our understanding of non-consumptive effects in real communities on longer time scales, in order to investigate the influence of non-consumptive effects on prey abundance and ecological community structure. The investigators will use a combination of theoretical and experimental approaches based on a model fish-zooplankton community, to identify and elucidate non-consumptive effects of predators that are not predicted to arise from direct effects of predators killing prey. Non-consumptive effects arise from a process common to all ecosystems and therefore this research will elucidate concepts and approaches that are of general relevance, thereby benefiting the management and stewardship of diverse ecosystems. In addition to supporting the research training and mentoring of two graduate students, this project will provide research experiences for a large number of undergraduate students. The project also involves outreach to present results to state agencies and citizen groups, and to develop demonstration modules on lake ecosystems and basic ecological concepts and issues for presentation to K-12 classrooms.