The ecology of fear and safety in a changing world

一个动物的成功取决于它做三件基本事情的能力：觅食、避免被吃掉和成功繁殖。认不出捕食者往往是致命的，但被捕食的动物不能一直为了躲避捕食者而放弃觅食和繁殖。因此，动物如何识别和避免被吃掉，同时仍然是成功的，这个问题是生物学的核心问题，也是我长期研究计划的很大一部分。作为一名认知生态学家，我专注于理解动物如何通过空间和时间处理风险波动，以及信息的确定性如何影响它们对捕食者的反应。大部分的工作涉及学习和记忆与捕食者有关的信息。我们最近在几个模型系统中的经验工作，结合一些动态状态变量模型，已经使人们认识到，识别安全，无论是以识别非捕食者还是安全场所的形式，对猎物来说可能比识别风险重要得多。这可能会从根本上改变生态学家对动物决策的看法。因此，我的第一个目标是通过新兴的安全识别镜头，开展鱼类空间利用模式和两栖动物发展和学习方面的开创性工作。在这项资助中，我还将利用我在认知生态学方面的优势来解决两个紧迫的全球环境问题。其中一个目标是了解人为噪音如何影响鱼类的生理、生长和学习。我们的世界变得越来越嘈杂，这种噪音可能对鱼类的生态和认知产生深远的影响。我将探索船只噪音对鱼的生理、逃跑性能和学习捕食者的能力的空间影响。由于无法识别捕食者，低招募率和高死亡率的后果可能对种群规模产生重大影响。我还将测试噪音是否是在水产养殖环境中限制鱼类生长的压力的主要原因。我的工作确实有潜力帮助加拿大水产养殖业通过设计最小化声应力的水箱来提高产量。我的最终目标是扩展我的开创性工作，硒（Se），一种优先的水生污染物，对鱼类抗捕食者认知和社会行为的影响。通过这项工作，我们将全面了解性类固醇激素在社会学习和认知中的作用，并探索硒暴露的多代效应。该基金将培养1名博士生、5名博士生、1名硕士生和许多本科生。将认知生态学的前沿研究与现实生活中的环境问题相结合，意味着接受这项资助的学生将成为真正能够作为未来的研究人员和政策制定者产生影响的科学家。

The success of an animal depends on its ability to do three basic things: to forage, to avoid being eaten and to successfully reproduce. Failing to recognize a predator is often fatal, but prey animals cannot forgo foraging and reproduction to hide from predators all of the time. Hence, the question of how animals recognize and avoid being eaten, while still being successful, is a central issue in biology and constitutes a large part of my long term research program. As a cognitive ecologist, I focus on understanding how animals deal with fluctuations in risk through space and time and how the certainty of information influences how they respond to predators. Much of this work involves learning and memory of predator-related information. Our recent empirical work in several model systems, combined with some dynamic state variable modelling has led to the realization that recognizing safety, be it in the form of recognition of non-predators or safe places, is likely much more important to prey than recognizing risk. This could fundamentally change the way ecologists view animal decision making. Accordingly, my first objective is aimed at conducting pioneering work on fish space use patterns and amphibian development and learning through the emerging lens of safety recognition. In this grant, I will also use my strength in cognitive ecology to address two pressing global environmental issues. One objective is aimed at understanding how anthropogenic noise influences physiology, growth and learning in fishes. Our world is becoming much noisier, and this noise may have a profound effect on fish ecology and cognition. I will explore the spatial impact of the effects of boat noise on physiology, escape performance and the ability of the fish to learn their predators. The consequence of lower recruitment and higher mortality, stemming from the inability to recognize predators, could have significant effects on population size. I will also test whether noise is a major cause of stress that limits fish growth in an aquaculture setting. My work has real potential to help the Canadian aquaculture industry increase production by designing tanks that minimize acoustic stress. My final objective is to expand my pioneering work on the effects of Selenium (Se), a priority aquatic pollutant, on fish antipredator cognition and social behaviour. Through this work, we will gain a comprehensive understanding of the role of sex steroid hormones in social learning and cognition and explore the multi-generational effects of Se exposure. This grant will facilitate the training of 1 PDF, 5 PhD students, 1 MSc student along with many undergraduate students. Combining cutting edge research in cognitive ecology with real-life environmental issues means that the students trained with this grant will be scientists that can truly make an impact as researchers and policy makers of the future.