Fear at the top – risks discernment and mitigation by an apex predator in a cityscape

城市是野生动物风险和回报的高度多样化的景观，这种二元性可能会导致动物行为的变化。在城市环境中航行的物种可能受益于减少的自然竞争对手和食物补贴，但它们也必须缓解日益加剧的人为压力(例如道路、灯光)。尽管城市生态学领域方兴未艾，对恐惧行为生态学的研究激增，但这些作品几乎完全集中在捕食或竞争从属物种上。缺乏对城市环境中顶端捕食者恐惧的研究，限制了我们对共存战略的理解，限制了我们预测城市化行为后果对生态系统影响的能力。这项提议的中心目标是在郊狼身上测试恐惧风险管理的基本理论，郊狼是北美城市中一种常见的新近上升的顶端哺乳动物捕食者。具体地说，这项工作包括：a)非侵入性相机调查，以获得关于风险和回报的耦合分布的种群水平的数据；b)捕获城市中的顶级捕食者，以获得关于风险管理和奖励的影响的个体水平的精细数据；以及c)对感知到的威胁和食物质量进行实验操作，以表征对行为适应和权衡的影响。通过测试风险分配理论的预期，项目结果将导致对风险厌恶觅食及其与适应性的关联的更好理解。该项目与底特律动物学会合作，将通过制作一本关于恐惧的多语言儿童书籍和一个中学收养郊狼计划以及展示城市环境中颜色做科学的学者的视频系列来提供公众参与的机会。随着全球城市化和土地覆盖转化率的不断提高，城市已经成为野生动物独特而危险的栖息地。到目前为止，风险管理的科学在很大程度上仍然是跨理论的、在城市环境之外的，并且狭隘地专注于从属物种，这限制了对食物网“顶端”物种的应用。通过使用郊狼作为表现出高水平行为可塑性的模型系统，这项研究将揭示顶端捕食者如何区分风险特定的行为反应，以及资源可用性如何调节这种反应的类型和强度。这项研究整合了非侵入性相机调查，以估计25个城市公园的时间重叠和入住率随人类压力的变化，以及EDNA和同位素比率，以评估密歇根州底特律人口水平的饮食。为了考虑个体差异，家庭范围、活动和活动预算的差异将根据从12只成年郊狼获得的无线电项圈数据来确定。该项目还涉及两个实验，以确定威胁频率和资源可用性如何影响郊狼对风险的管理和反应。最终，这项研究处于行为和城市生态学的前沿，并将阐明城市顶端捕食者的风险评估、识别和缓解策略--这是一个新兴的环境，美国81%的人口居住在这里。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Cities are highly heterogeneous landscapes of risks and rewards for wildlife, a duality that can induce changes in animal behavior. Species navigating urban environments may benefit from reduced natural competitors and food subsidies, but they must also mitigate heightened anthropogenic pressures (e.g., roads, lights). Despite the burgeoning field of urban ecology and a surge of research on the behavioral ecology of fear, these works almost exclusively focus on predation or competition in subordinate species. The dearth of studies on fear in apex predators in urban environments limits our understanding of coexistence strategies and our capacity to anticipate ecosystem ramifications caused by behavioral consequences of urbanization. The central goal of this proposal is to test fundamental theories of fear on risk management in coyotes, a common and newly ascended apex mammalian predator in North American cities. Specifically, this work includes: a) non-invasive camera surveys to obtain population-level data on the coupled distributions of risks and rewards; b) collaring an apex predator in the city to obtain individual-level, fine-scale data on risk management and implications of rewards; and c) experimental manipulation of perceived threat and food quality to characterize effects on behavioral adaptations and tradeoffs. Project outcomes will lead to enhanced understanding of risk-aversion foraging and its association with fitness by testing expectations from risk allocation theory. This project partners with the Detroit Zoological Society and will involve public engagement opportunities through the production of a multi-lingual children book on fear and a middle-school adopt-a-coyote program as well as video series showcasing scholars of color doing science in urban environments. Cities have emerged as a unique and risky habitat for wildlife, as urbanization and land cover conversion rates continue to increase worldwide. To date, the science of risk management remains largely disjointed across theories, outside urban environments, and narrowly focused on subordinate species, which constrains application to species “at the top” of the food web. By using coyotes as a model system that exhibit high levels of behavioral plasticity, this research will inform how an apex predator discriminates with risk-specific behavioral responses and how resource availability mediates the type and strength of such responses. This research integrates non-invasive camera surveys to estimate changes in temporal overlap and occupancy with human pressures across 25 urban parks as well as eDNA and isotopic ratios to assess diet at the population-level in Detroit, Michigan. To account for individual variation, differences in home-range, movement, and activity budgets will be determined from radio-collar data obtained from 12 adult coyotes. The project also involves two experiments to determine how threat frequency and resource availability influences the management and response of coyotes to risks. Ultimately, this research is at the frontier of behavioral and urban ecology, and will elucidate risk assessment, discrimination, and mitigation strategies of apex predators in cities – a newly emerging environment where 81% of America’s population reside.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.