The ecology of fear and safety in a changing world

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。未能识别捕食者往往是致命的，但被捕食的动物不能放弃觅食和繁殖，以一直躲避捕食者。因此，动物在成功生存的同时如何识别和避免被吃掉的问题，是生物学中的一个中心问题，也是我长期研究计划的一大部分。作为一名认知生态学家，我专注于了解动物如何应对风险在空间和时间上的波动，以及信息的确定性如何影响它们对捕食者的反应。这项工作的大部分涉及到对捕食者相关信息的学习和记忆。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建模，已经导致认识到，识别安全性，无论是以识别非捕食者或安全地点的形式，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看待动物决策的方式。因此，我的第一个目标是在鱼类空间使用模式和两栖动物开发方面开展开创性工作，并通过安全识别的新兴镜头进行学习。在这笔赠款中，我还将利用我在认知生态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，这种噪音可能会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生理、逃生能力和鱼类认识捕食者能力的空间影响。由于无法识别捕食者，导致较低的招募和较高的死亡率，这可能会对种群数量产生重大影响。我还将测试噪音是否是限制水产养殖环境中鱼类生长的压力的主要原因。我的工作具有真正的潜力，通过设计将声应力降至最低的水箱来帮助加拿大水产养殖业提高产量。我的最终目标是扩大我在硒(Se)这一优先水生污染物对鱼类反捕食者认知和社会行为影响方面的开创性工作。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影响。这笔助学金将帮助培养1名PDF、5名博士生、1名硕士学生以及许多本科生。将认知生态学的尖端研究与现实生活中的环境问题相结合，意味着接受这笔拨款培训的学生将是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.