RUI: Behavioral Indirect Effects in Food Webs: Experiments with Freshwater Snails, their Predators, and their Resources

大量研究表明，动物对捕食风险的反应是减少活动或转移到更安全的栖息地，但对这些行为转变的生态后果知之甚少。本研究项目将评估行为灵活性在池塘和沼泽食物网中调节物种相互作用的作用。淡水蜗牛在遇到鱼类或小龙虾捕食者时，会在掩体下或水面上移动。这种栖息地的变化可能会影响不同种类或大小的蜗牛之间的竞争结果，迫使更多的蜗牛进入其他捕食者的栖息地，或者导致危险栖息地的资源水平更高。化学线索可以用来在不影响蜗牛密度的情况下向蜗牛呈现风险感知，从而区分捕食者对猎物的致命和非致命影响。该方法将用于一系列野外实验和野外观察，以测量捕食者对物种相互作用的非致命影响。这个项目将有助于确定诱导行为反应在塑造社区中是否普遍重要。研究结果将进一步加深我们对自然群落功能的理解，从而提高我们管理自然资源和保护生物多样性的能力。

A large number of studies show that animals respond to predation risk by lowering their activity or moving into safer habitats, but little is known about the ecological consequences of these behavioral shifts. This research project will evaluate the role of behavioral flexibility in mediating species interactions in the food web of ponds and marshes. Freshwater snails move under cover or to the water's surface when confronted with fish or crayfish predators. This habitat shift may affect the outcome of competition among different species or sizes of snails, force more snails into habitats with other predators, or lead to higher resource levels in dangerous habitats. Chemical cues can be used to present snails with the perception of risk without affecting snail density, thereby separating the lethal and non-lethal effects of predators on prey. This approach will be used in a series of field experiments, and field observations to measure the non-lethal effects of predators on species interactions. This project will help establish whether induced behavioral responses are generally important in shaping communities. The results will further our understanding of how natural communities function, thereby enhancing our ability to manage natural resources and conserve biological diversity.