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- Title
Effects of predation risk on group size, vigilance, and foraging behavior in an African ungulate community.
- Authors
Creel, Scott; Schuette, Paul; Christianson, David
- Abstract
Predators alter prey dynamics by direct killing and through the costs of antipredator responses or risk effects. Antipredator behavior includes proactive responses to long-term variation in risk (e.g., grouping patterns) and reactive responses to short-term variation in risk (e.g., intense vigilance). In a 3-year field study, we measured variation in antipredator responses and the foraging costs of these responses for 5 ungulates (zebra, wildebeest, Grant’s gazelle, impala, and giraffe) that comprised more than 90% of the prey community available to the 2 locally dominant predators, lions and spotted hyenas. Using a model-selection approach, we examined how vigilance and group size responded to attributes of the predator, prey, and environment. We found that 1) the strength of antipredator responses was affected by attributes of the predator, prey, and environment in which they met; 2) grouping and vigilance were complementary responses; 3) grouping was a proactive response to the use of dangerous habitats, whereas vigilance was a reactive response to finer cues about predation risk; 4) increased vigilance caused a large reduction in foraging for some species (but not all); and 5) there was no clear relationship between direct predation rates and the foraging costs of antipredator responses. Broadly, our results show that antipredator responses and their costs vary in a complex manner among prey species, the predators they face, and the environment in which they meet.Using data from a 3-year field study of 5 ungulate species, we examined how attributes of predators, prey, and the environment affected the strength of antipredator responses. Our results support that hypothesis that grouping patterns are a proactive response to the use of dangerous habitats, whereas vigilance is a reactive response to finer cues about predation risk. The results also show that grouping and vigilance are complimentary responses to risk (e.g., the highest levels of vigilance were recorded for species with the smallest groups). The foraging costs of these responses were large for some species and were not detectably correlated with direct predation rates.
- Subjects
AFRICA; PREDATION; ANTIPREDATOR behavior; FORAGING behavior; ANIMAL social behavior; UNGULATE behavior; UNGULATES; ECOLOGY
- Publication
Behavioral Ecology, 2014, Vol 25, Issue 4, p1
- ISSN
1045-2249
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/beheco/aru050