The biology of fear: from brains to ecosystems to human mental health and human impacts

人类既是“超级捕食者”，也是猎物，会让其他动物产生恐惧，进而产生恐惧。我们作为捕食者的角色揭示了捕食者诱导的恐惧在生态学中的核心重要性；认识到我们作为猎物的角色加强了我们对创伤后应激障碍(PTSD)的理解；测量我们引发的恐惧可能提供一种工具来衡量我们对环境的影响，从而有助于保护环境。我的极具原创性和创新性的研究项目包含了捕食者引发的恐惧的这种联系。我第一次证明了恐惧本身的力量足以影响野生动物种群的动态，部分原因是受惊的父母会让他们的幼崽饿死，现在我将通过测试成年人是否也会死于恐惧来量化恐惧的总影响。将猎物吓死，例如损害父母的照顾，一直被认为是大型食肉动物在控制大型食草动物猎物的过程中提供的关键生态系统服务的一部分；这项服务正在丧失，大型食肉动物的损失是因为人类的“超级捕食者”的迫害。我将通过两个平行的实验来测试对大型食肉动物的恐惧对其大型食草动物猎物的人口统计学和行为的影响。这两个实验分别针对不列颠哥伦比亚省S海湾群岛上的鹿，以及有狮子和没有狮子的南非猎物保护区中的有蹄类动物(例如角马)。如果恐惧没有影响繁殖或生存，如果它像创伤后应激障碍那样对大脑产生持久的影响，那将是令人惊讶的。捕食者引发的恐惧现在是创伤后应激障碍动物模型(实验室大鼠)研究中最常见的压力源之一，因为它对大脑的影响与创伤后应激障碍患者的影响相当。我将在野生动物身上测试恐惧对大脑的类似持久影响，以确定与人口统计学的联系，并帮助验证创伤后应激障碍的捕食者模型。我的开创性研究表明，由于受到迫害，大型食肉动物已经变得如此害怕人类的“超级捕食者”，这可能会影响它们对大型食草动物的控制，现在我将测试由此产生的生态系统层面的影响。人类绝对是捕食者，偷猎是生物多样性丧失的主要原因。目前对偷猎行为的量化依赖于问卷调查，而问卷调查本质上是不可靠的，因为受访者必须供认罪行。动物知道它们的敌人，我将测试使用我开发的创新新技术询问野生动物对人类的恐惧是否可以作为一种工具，可靠地衡量偷猎和生态旅游的影响。我的变革性发现将促进生态，有利于创伤后应激障碍患者的护理，并有助于保护环境。我将培训1名博士后，6名博士，5名理学硕士，以及多个理科荣誉和本科生助理。这些HQP将在环境评估、生物医学科学、保护区管理、旅游、政府政策制定和学术界获得极具影响力的职位。

Humans are both “super predator” and prey inducing fear in other animals and fearing them in turn. Our role as predator is revealing the central importance of predator-induced fear in ecology; recognizing our role as prey is enhancing our understanding of post-traumatic stress (PTSD); and measuring the fear we inspire may provide a tool to gauge our impacts on the environment, and so aid conservation. My extremely original and innovative research program encompasses this nexus of predator-induced fear. I demonstrated for the first time that fear itself is powerful enough to affect wildlife population dynamics, partly because frightened parents will literally let their young starve to death, and I will now quantify the total impact of fear, by testing if adults may also die of fright'. Frightening their prey to death, e.g. by impairing parental care, has been argued to be part of the critical ecosystem service' large carnivores provide, in keeping their large herbivore prey in check; a service being lost with the loss of large carnivores caused by their persecution by the human “super predator”. I will test how the fear of large carnivores impacts the demography and behaviour of their large herbivore prey in two parallel experiments, on deer on B.C.'s Gulf Islands, and ungulates (e.g. wildebeest) in South African game reserves with and without lions. It would be surprising if fear did not affect reproduction or survival, if it has lasting impacts of the brain, as in PTSD. Predator-induced fear is now one of the most common stressors used in animal model' (lab rat) studies of PTSD, because it produces effects on the brain matching those seen in PTSD sufferers. I will test for comparable lasting impacts of fear on the brain in wild animals, to determine the links to demography, and help validate the predator model' of PTSD. My pioneering research demonstrates that, due to their persecution, large carnivores have come to so fear the human “super predator” this can affect their keeping large herbivores in check, and I will now test the resulting ecosystem-level impacts. Humans are definitely a predator, poaching being a principal cause of biodiversity loss. Quantifying poaching presently relies upon questionnaires, which are intrinsically unreliable because respondents must to confess to crimes. Animals know their enemies, and I will test if interrogating' wildlife about their fear of humans, using innovative new technology I developed, can be used as a tool to reliably gauge the impacts of poaching, and ecotourism. My transformative discoveries will advance ecology, benefit PTSD patient care, and aid conservation. I will train 1 Post-doc, 6 PhDs, 5 MScs, and multiple BSc Honours and undergraduate assistants. These HQP will be equipped to progress to highly impactful positions in environmental assessment, biomedical sciences, protected areas management, tourism, governmental policy making and academia.********