CAREER: The Ecology of Information in Predator-prey Interactions: Testing Mechanisms by which Informed Prey Avoid their Predators in Space and Time

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Optimal decision making by organisms relies upon the acquisition of information regarding relevant ecological conditions (e.g., location of predators, qualities of prospective mates). The better informed the individual, the better it can match its behavior to its present or anticipated future circumstances. These adjustments in turn may be important drivers or regulators of ecological interactions. Therefore, to fully grasp ecological complexity, ecologists must understand the sources of information available to organisms (e.g., past experiences, newly acquired information), how information changes an organism's behavior, and the consequences of information use for other organisms. The research to be performed will investigate these questions within the context of how breeding songbirds acquire information about predation risk. It combines long-term observational data on individually marked animals, experimental manipulation of predators in time and space, and computer simulations to explore the role of environmental predictability on information use and, hence, on possible responses to global change. The proposed research will facilitate undergraduate research that targets underrepresented groups through programs such as McNair Scholars and Howard Hughes Fellows. It will develop a new initiative to provide science education through reflection and active research experience to non-science majors. This initiative will occur within a curriculum designed to groom students for professions that communicate the science of the natural world to non-scientists. Through proposed education assessments, this initiative would represent perhaps the first attempt to quantify the role of reflection and research experience on students' abilities to effectively convey the nature of science through writing.