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

对野生动物来说，城市是一个风险与回报并存的高度异质的景观，这种二元性可以引起动物行为的变化。在城市环境中生存的物种可能受益于自然竞争对手的减少和食物补贴，但它们也必须减轻日益加剧的人为压力（如道路、灯光）。尽管城市生态学领域蓬勃发展，对恐惧行为生态学的研究激增，但这些作品几乎只关注从属物种的捕食或竞争。对城市环境中顶端捕食者的恐惧研究的缺乏限制了我们对共存策略的理解，也限制了我们预测城市化行为后果所造成的生态系统后果的能力。这项提议的中心目标是测试土狼风险管理恐惧的基本理论，土狼是北美城市中常见的、新上升的顶级哺乳动物捕食者。具体来说，这项工作包括：a)非侵入性相机调查，以获得风险和回报耦合分布的人口水平数据；B)围捕城市中的顶级捕食者，以获得有关风险管理和奖励含义的个人层面的精细数据；c)感知威胁和食物质量的实验操作，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期望，项目结果将增强对风险厌恶觅食及其与适合度的关联的理解。该项目与底特律动物学会合作，并将通过制作多语种儿童恐惧书、中学领养土狼计划以及展示有色人种学者在城市环境中做科学研究的视频系列，为公众提供参与机会。随着世界范围内城市化和土地覆盖转化率的不断提高，城市已成为野生动物独特而危险的栖息地。迄今为止，风险管理的科学在很大程度上仍然是脱节的，在城市环境之外，并且狭隘地集中在次要物种上，这限制了对食物网“顶端”物种的应用。通过将土狼作为表现出高水平行为可塑性的模型系统，本研究将揭示顶端捕食者如何区分特定风险的行为反应，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占用随人类压力的变化，以及eDNA和同位素比率，以评估密歇根州底特律市人口水平的饮食。为了解释个体差异，将从12只成年土狼的无线电项圈数据中确定其回家范围、运动和活动预算的差异。该项目还涉及两项实验，以确定威胁频率和资源可用性如何影响土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，并将阐明城市中顶级捕食者的风险评估、歧视和缓解策略——这是一个新兴的环境，美国81%的人口居住在这里。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.