Perception of predation risk under unpredictable conditions: chemosensory cues and the indirect effects of predation.

在不可预测的条件下对捕食风险的感知：化学感应线索和捕食的间接影响。

• 批准号: 249683-2013
• 负责人: Brown, Grant
• 金额: $ 1.97万
• 依托单位: Concordia University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2013-01-01 至 2014-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=524751
• 关键词: Perception; predation; risk; under; unpredictable

Prey are continually faced with the conflicting demands of predator avoidance and other fitness related activities such as foraging, territorial defence and courtship. Key to balancing these trade-offs is the ability to reliably assess local predation threats. However, predation risk is seldom spatially and temporally predictable, increasing the costs associated with risk assessment. The effects of unpredictable predation and the resulting uncertainty of risk are only now beginning to be examined. A growing body of research argues that uncertainty about local conditions (i.e. foraging opportunities; predation threats) will increase the value (i.e. reliability as a risk assessment cue) of acquired public information and that such information should allow prey to predict risk with greater certainty. However, learning to recognize novel cues as sources of public information is in itself costly (i.e. risk of predation during initial encounters with novel threats). Recently, we have demonstrated that under unpredictable risk conditions, prey may benefit from responding any novel cues as a risk (neophobia). By doing so, prey could reduce the cost of the initial encounter). Here, we test the hypothesis that responding to novel predator cues is an adaptive response to unpredictability in local predation threats and that neophobia allows prey to reduce their overall costs associated with balancing predator avoidance trade-offs. We also propose to apply our neophobia model to test the hypothesis that inducible neophobic predator avoidance can enhance the post-stocking survival of hatchery-reared salmonids. Each year, millions of hatchery-reared juvenile salmonids are stocked into natural waterways as part of ongoing efforts to re-establish or maintain natural populations. However, the combined effects of lack of learning opportunities within a hatchery setting and reduced phenotypic variance leads to poor post-stocking survival. We will test the feasibility of applying inducible neophobia and ecologically relevant learning to current life-skills training programs in an effort to enhance reintroduction programs. Combined, these results will advance our knowledge of risk assessment among prey populations and potentially provide a valuable tool to enhance salmon conservation programs.

猎物不断地面临着相互冲突的需求，包括躲避捕食者和其他与健康有关的活动，如觅食、领土防御和求偶。平衡这些权衡的关键是能够可靠地评估当地的捕食威胁。然而，捕食风险在空间和时间上很少是可预测的，这增加了与风险评估相关的成本。人们现在才开始研究不可预测的捕食行为以及由此带来的风险不确定性的影响。越来越多的研究认为，当地条件的不确定性(即觅食机会；捕食威胁)将增加已获得的公共信息的价值(即作为风险评估线索的可靠性)，这些信息应使猎物能够更确定地预测风险。然而，学习将新线索识别为公共信息来源本身就是代价高昂的(即在最初遇到新威胁时有被掠夺的风险)。最近，我们已经证明，在不可预测的风险条件下，猎物可能受益于将任何新的线索反应为风险(新恐惧症)。通过这样做，猎物可以降低初次相遇的成本)。在这里，我们测试了这样的假设，即对新的捕食者线索的反应是对局部捕食威胁的不可预测性的适应性反应，并且新恐惧症允许猎物降低与平衡捕食者避免权衡相关的总体成本。我们还建议应用我们的新恐惧症模型来测试这样的假设，即可诱导的新恐惧症捕食者回避可以提高孵化场饲养的鲑鱼放养后的存活率。作为重建或维持自然种群的持续努力的一部分，每年都有数百万只孵化场饲养的幼体鲑鱼被放养到自然水道中。然而，在孵化环境中缺乏学习机会和减少表型差异的综合影响导致放养后的存活率很低。我们将测试将诱导性新恐惧症和与生态相关的学习应用于当前生活技能培训计划的可行性，以努力加强重新引入计划。总而言之，这些结果将提高我们对猎物种群风险评估的了解，并可能为加强鲑鱼保护计划提供一个有价值的工具。