Ecological uncertainty as a driver of neophobia in aquatic prey

猎物利用可公开获得的关于当地栖息地条件的信息来平衡躲避捕食者和其他活动(如觅食和繁殖)的相互冲突的要求。然而，由于自然和人为压力的共同作用，环境经历了短期和长期的变化，导致被捕食动物之间的不确定性增加(关于当地条件的不完整或不完善的信息)。生态学家面临的一个主要挑战是确定在面临生态不确定性时，猎物如何平衡这些冲突。鉴于全球气候变化、入侵物种和人为栖息地退化的综合影响预计将极大地改变环境，有必要探索生态不确定性的影响是关键。作为一名认知和行为生态学家，我研究了水生猎物如何利用公共信息来调整行为与当前环境条件的权衡。最近，我专注于新恐惧症捕食者的识别，作为对增加的捕食风险的诱导反应。然而，平均捕食风险只是猎物经历的生态不确定性的众多决定因素之一。我未来五年的长期目标是解决一个关键问题，即生态不确定性如何影响新恐惧症捕食者的表现，以及与新恐惧症相关的认知成本。结合创新的实验室和实地研究，我将回答四个具体问题。首先，我将确定捕食者多样性和捕食威胁的时空可预测性在形成新恐惧症捕食者识别方面所起的作用。其次，栖息地内的结构复杂程度是已知的，以确定哪些信息可供猎物使用。我将研究栖息地的复杂性在塑造信息不确定性方面所起的作用。第三，合适的觅食机会预计也会影响猎物的决定。因此，我将研究新恐惧症捕食者识别和新恐惧症觅食模式之间的潜在联系。最后，随着猎物对新的捕食者线索的反应增加，它们可能对新的觅食线索或情况不那么关注。我将确定与表型塑料新恐惧症相关的认知(学习)成本。这项提议将直接支持3名博士、3名硕士和几名本科生。每个人都将在认知和行为生态学方面获得宝贵的经验。在解决基本问题的同时，这里提出的每个目标都与现实生活中的环境问题有明确的联系。由这些基金支持的HQP将受益于基本方法和应用方法的风险敞口。这种接触将确保接受过这一资助培训的学生将成为能够作为研究人员和政策制定者产生重大影响的科学家。

Prey use publicly available information about local habitat conditions to balance the conflicting demands of predator avoidance and other activities such as foraging and reproduction. However, environments undergo both short and long term changes resulting from a combination of natural and anthropogenic pressures, leading to increased uncertainty (the incomplete or imperfect information regarding local conditions) among prey animals. A major challenge for ecologists is to determine how prey can balance these conflicts when faced with ecological uncertainty. Given that the combined effects of global climate change, invasive species and anthropogenic habitat degradation are expected to dramatically alter environments, the need to explore the effects of ecological uncertainty is key. As a cognitive and behavioural ecologist, I examine ‘how aquatic prey use public information to adjust behavioural trade-offs to current environmental conditions’. Recently, I have focussed on neophobic predator recognition as an inducible response to elevated predation risk. However, mean predation risk is only one of many determinants of the ecological uncertainty experienced by prey. My long term objective for the next five years is to address the key question of how ecological uncertainty shapes the expression of neophobic predator avoidance and foraging patterns of prey and what are the cognitive cost associated with neophobia. Using a combination of innovative laboratory and field studies, I will address four specific questions. First, I will determine the role of predator diversity and spatial and temporal predictability of predation threats plays in shaping neophobic predator recognition. Second, the level of structural complexity within a habitat is known to determine what information is available to prey. I will examine the role habitat complexity plays in shaping the uncertainty of information. Third, the availability of suitable foraging opportunities is also expected to shape the decisions of prey. Thus, I will examine the potential links between neophobic predator recognition and neophobic foraging patterns. Finally, as prey increase their response to novel predator cues, they might be less attentive to novel foraging cues or situations. I will determine the cognitive (learning) costs associated with phenotypically plastic neophobia. This proposal will directly support 3 PhD, 3 MSc and several undergraduate students. Each will gain valuable experience in cognitive and behavioural ecology. While addressing fundamental questions, each of the goals presented here has clear links to real-life environmental issues. The HQP supported by these funds will benefit from the exposure to both fundamental and applied approaches. This exposure will ensure that students trained on this grant will become scientists that can make significant impacts as researchers and policy makers.