Ecological uncertainty as a driver of neophobia in aquatic prey

猎物利用有关当地栖息地条件的公开信息来平衡躲避捕食者和其他活动（如觅食和繁殖）之间的冲突需求。然而，由于自然和人为压力的结合，环境经历了短期和长期的变化，导致猎物动物的不确定性增加（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当面临生态不确定性时，猎物如何平衡这些冲突。考虑到全球气候变化、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，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“水生猎物如何利用公共信息来调整行为权衡，以适应当前的环境条件”。最近，我专注于新恐惧症捕食者识别，作为对捕食风险升高的诱导反应。然而，平均捕食风险只是猎物所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生态不确定性如何塑造新恐惧症的表达，捕食者的回避和猎物的觅食模式，以及与新恐惧症相关的认知成本是什么。结合创新的实验室和实地研究，我将解决四个具体问题。首先，我将确定捕食者多样性和捕食威胁的空间和时间可预测性在塑造新恐惧症捕食者识别中的作用。其次，已知栖息地的结构复杂程度决定了猎物可以获得哪些信息。我将研究生境复杂性在形成信息不确定性方面所起的作用。第三，合适的觅食机会的可用性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。我将确定与表现性可塑性新恐惧症相关的认知（学习）成本。该提案将直接资助3名博士，3名硕士和几名本科生。每个人都将获得认知和行为生态学方面的宝贵经验。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。由这些基金支持的卫生保健计划将受益于接触基本方法和应用方法。这种接触将确保接受这项资助培训的学生成为能够作为研究人员和决策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.