The biology of fear: from brains to ecosystems to human mental health and human impacts

人类既是“超级捕食者”，又是猎物，这会引起其他动物的恐惧，反过来也会让它们感到恐惧。 我们作为捕食者的角色揭示了捕食者引起的恐惧在生态学中的核心重要性;认识到我们作为猎物的角色增强了我们对创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）的理解;测量我们激发的恐惧可能会提供一种工具来衡量我们对环境的影响，因此有助于保护。 我非常原始和创新的研究计划包括这种捕食者引起的恐惧的关系。我第一次证明了恐惧本身足以影响野生动物的种群动态，部分原因是害怕的父母会让他们的年轻人饿死，现在我将量化恐惧的总影响，通过测试成年人是否也会死于恐惧。 将猎物惊吓至死，例如通过损害父母的照顾，被认为是大型食肉动物提供的关键生态系统服务的一部分，以控制其大型食草动物猎物;由于人类“超级捕食者”的迫害，大型食肉动物的损失导致了这种服务的丧失。 我将在两个平行实验中测试对大型食肉动物的恐惧如何影响大型食草动物猎物的人口统计和行为，在不列颠哥伦比亚省的鹿身上。的海湾群岛，和有蹄类动物（如角马）在南非游戏保护区与狮子和不。 如果恐惧不影响生殖或生存，如果它对大脑有持久的影响，就像创伤后应激障碍一样，那将是令人惊讶的。 捕食者引起的恐惧现在是PTSD动物模型（实验室大鼠）研究中最常见的压力源之一，因为它对大脑的影响与PTSD患者的影响相匹配。 我将在野生动物中测试恐惧对大脑的可比持久影响，以确定与人口统计学的联系，并帮助验证PTSD的捕食者模型。 我的开创性研究表明，由于他们的迫害，大型食肉动物已经变得如此害怕人类“超级捕食者”，这可能会影响他们保持大型食草动物的控制，我现在将测试由此产生的生态系统层面的影响。 人类无疑是一种捕食者，偷猎是生物多样性丧失的主要原因。 量化偷猎目前依赖于问卷调查，这在本质上是不可靠的，因为受访者必须承认犯罪。 动物知道他们的敌人，我将测试是否审问野生动物对人类的恐惧，使用我开发的创新新技术，可以作为一种工具，可靠地衡量偷猎和生态旅游的影响。 我的变革性发现将促进生态学，有益于创伤后应激障碍患者的护理，并有助于保护。 我将培养1名博士后，6名博士，5名硕士，以及多名荣誉理学士和本科生助理。这些HQP将有能力在环境评估，生物医学科学，保护区管理，旅游，政府政策制定和学术界取得高度影响力的职位。

Humans are both “super predator” and prey inducing fear in other animals and fearing them in turn. Our role as predator is revealing the central importance of predator-induced fear in ecology; recognizing our role as prey is enhancing our understanding of post-traumatic stress (PTSD); and measuring the fear we inspire may provide a tool to gauge our impacts on the environment, and so aid conservation. My extremely original and innovative research program encompasses this nexus of predator-induced fear. I demonstrated for the first time that fear itself is powerful enough to affect wildlife population dynamics, partly because frightened parents will literally let their young starve to death, and I will now quantify the total impact of fear, by testing if adults may also die of fright'. Frightening their prey to death, e.g. by impairing parental care, has been argued to be part of the critical ecosystem service' large carnivores provide, in keeping their large herbivore prey in check; a service being lost with the loss of large carnivores caused by their persecution by the human “super predator”. I will test how the fear of large carnivores impacts the demography and behaviour of their large herbivore prey in two parallel experiments, on deer on B.C.'s Gulf Islands, and ungulates (e.g. wildebeest) in South African game reserves with and without lions. It would be surprising if fear did not affect reproduction or survival, if it has lasting impacts of the brain, as in PTSD. Predator-induced fear is now one of the most common stressors used in animal model' (lab rat) studies of PTSD, because it produces effects on the brain matching those seen in PTSD sufferers. I will test for comparable lasting impacts of fear on the brain in wild animals, to determine the links to demography, and help validate the predator model' of PTSD. My pioneering research demonstrates that, due to their persecution, large carnivores have come to so fear the human “super predator” this can affect their keeping large herbivores in check, and I will now test the resulting ecosystem-level impacts. Humans are definitely a predator, poaching being a principal cause of biodiversity loss. Quantifying poaching presently relies upon questionnaires, which are intrinsically unreliable because respondents must to confess to crimes. Animals know their enemies, and I will test if interrogating' wildlife about their fear of humans, using innovative new technology I developed, can be used as a tool to reliably gauge the impacts of poaching, and ecotourism. My transformative discoveries will advance ecology, benefit PTSD patient care, and aid conservation. I will train 1 Post-doc, 6 PhDs, 5 MScs, and multiple BSc Honours and undergraduate assistants. These HQP will be equipped to progress to highly impactful positions in environmental assessment, biomedical sciences, protected areas management, tourism, governmental policy making and academia.********