Does predation risk, through moon phase and predator cues, modulate food intake, antipredatory and physiological responses in wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus)?

Navarro-Castilla, Álvaro; Barja, Isabel

doi:10.1007/s00265-014-1759-y

Cited by 56 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…On the other hand, in summer months, mice become an essential element of the pine marten ( Martes martes ) diets (Rosellini, Barja, & Piñeiro, ; Rosellini, Barja et al., ; Rosellini, Osoria et al., ). Therefore, being the main prey of numerous predators implies that they have to adapt their behaviour to each particular situation, evaluating predation risk in order to perform the most suitable response (Navarro‐Castilla & Barja, ,b). Consequently, due to the influence of predation pressure, individuals seem to show conspicuously aggressive behaviour when they are intensely pursued.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In nature, animals must cope with a broad array of threats in order to survive and, among them, disturbance by humans poses crucial trade‐offs for wildlife populations. Direct and indirect impacts of anthropogenic interference cause wide‐ranging effects on wildlife affecting not only their ecology and, hence, population densities, but also shaping their behaviour and physiology (Barja et al., ; Borkowski et al., ; Davies, Haddad, & Ouyang, ; Fernández‐Juricic & Tellería, ; Johnson, Boyce, Schwartz, & Haroldson, ; Navarro‐Castilla & Barja, ,b; Stankowich, ). Several measures for evaluating human‐caused effects on wild populations have been used (Tarlow & Blumstein, ), but behavioural changes have been often considered the most sensitive measure of animal′s susceptibity to human effects.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The same as predators, detection of humans by wildlife is based on visual, auditory and olfactory signals and prey species have developed antipredatory responses to generalized hazardous stimuli such as strident noises or swiftly approaching objects (Dill, ,b). Behavioural adaptations appear to be the most frequent antipredatory responses (Apfelbach, Blanchard, Blanchard, Hayes, & McGregor, ) and can be considered primary strategies (Caro, ; Ferrari, ; Kavaliers & Choleris, ) as they reduce risk exposure to potential dangerous situations (Gallego et al., ; Navarro‐Castilla & Barja, ,b; Navarro‐Castilla, Barja, & Díaz, ; Sánchez‐González, Barja, & Navarro‐Castilla, ). Additionally, along with risk assessment, prey species can display an array of specific defensive behaviours as the ultimate protection to thwart initiated attacks.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Wood mice aggressiveness and flight response to human handling: Effect of individual and environmental factors

et al. 2018

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Numerous studies have examined human disturbance repercussions on wildlife, mainly focused on the effects on behaviour, reproductive success and population dynamics. However, few studies have addressed the behaviour of prey species during and after human capture and handling and how this may correlate to individual characteristics or variation in their physical environment they inhabit. We explored wood mouse’s fleeing and aggressive behaviours in response to captures by human in their natural habitat. Eighty‐seven wood mice were caught using Sherman live traps. For each trapped individual, aggressiveness was measured as the total number of bites inflicted upon the investigator during handling time. Afterwards, each mouse was released in a two‐metre radius partially covered vegetation area that allowed visual mouse tracking by the observer and flight behaviour was registered by individual one‐zero focal sampling technique during 2 min. Both aggressiveness and fleeing behaviour were analysed regarding individual (sex, reproductive status, age) and environmental factors (habitat and season). Males, adults and breeding individuals showed heightened aggression levels. Higher aggressiveness levels were found in wood mice occupying scrubland and during summer and autumn. The flight response was exclusively explained by reproductive status, whereby breeding individuals spent more time on fast escape than nonbreeding ones. These results indicate that both individual and environmental factors seem to influence defensive behaviours in the wood mouse during and after being captured by a human. Since human disturbance shares many aspects with the predation risk, behavioural responses found to captures may likely be influenced by previous experience of individuals with predators as well as to seasonal and habitat features conditioning predators’ densities but also protection against them.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Wood mice aggressiveness and flight response to human handling: Effect of individual and environmental factors

et al. 2018

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“…scent markings; Herman & Valone, 2000). However, perhaps because encounters with predators are relatively rare, and the likelihood of escape following an attack is uncertain, the perception of predation risk appears to be driven mainly by habitat structure (Verdolin, 2006) and, in nocturnal species, illumination (Longland & Price, 1991;Kotler et al, 2010;Navarro-Castilla & Barja, 2014). In particular, the availability of shelter and the quality of sightlines and concealment are important determinants of rodent foraging activity (Van der Merwe & Brown, 2008;Embar, Kotler & Mukherjee, 2011).…”

Section: (9) Predation Riskmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seed fate and decision‐making processes in scatter‐hoarding rodents

2015

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A mechanistic understanding of seed movement and survival is important both for the development of theoretical models of plant population dynamics, spatial spread, and community assembly, and for the conservation and management of plant communities under global change. While models of wind-borne seed dispersal have advanced rapidly over the past two decades, models for animal-mediated dispersal have failed to make similar progress due to their dependence on interspecific interactions and complex, context-dependent behaviours. In this review, we synthesize the literature on seed dispersal and consumption by scatter-hoarding, granivorous rodents and outline a strategy for development of a general mechanistic seed-fate model in these systems. Our review decomposes seed dispersal and survival into six distinct sub-processes (exposure, harvest, allocation, preparation, placement, and recovery), and identifies nine intermediate (latent) variables that link physical state variables (e.g. seed and animal traits, habitat structure) to decisions regarding seed allocation to hoarding or consumption, cache placement and management, and deployment of radicle-pruning or embryo excision behaviours. We also highlight specific areas where research on these intermediate relationships is needed to improve our mechanistic understanding of scatter-hoarder behaviour. Finally, we outline a strategy to combine detailed studies on individual functional relationships with seed-tracking experiments in an iterative, hierarchical Bayesian framework to construct, refine, and test mechanistic models for context-dependent, scatter-hoarder-mediated seed fate.

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“…The lunar synodic cycle (full moon to full moon, or moon phase) has an average length of 29.5 days and causes changes in the geomagnetic field, gravitational pull, and ambient light levels (Lohman & Willows, 1987). These changes are detectable by a wide range of organisms (McDowell, 1969), and the synodic cycle of the moon therefore has a strong influence on the behavior, foraging efficiency, and energy expenditure of organisms (McDowell, 1969;Navarro-Castilla & Barja, 2014;Smit, Boyles, Brigham, & McKechnie, 2011). The lunar synodic cycle provides cues that are used by numerous marine organisms, for example, to stimulate and synchronize reproduction (Grant et al, 2009), while changes in nighttime ambient light levels have been shown to affect the behavioral strategies of both predator and prey (Penteriani, et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of “supermoon” events on the physiology of a wild bird

Portugal

White

Frappell

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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The position of the Moon in relation to the Earth and the Sun gives rise to several predictable cycles, and natural changes in nighttime light intensity are known to cause alterations to physiological processes and behaviors in many animals. The limited research undertaken to date on the physiological responses of animals to the lunar illumination has exclusively focused on the synodic lunar cycle (full moon to full moon, or moon phase) but the moon's orbit—its distance from the Earth—may also be relevant. Every month, the moon moves from apogee , its most distant point from Earth—and then to perigee, its closest point to Earth. Here, we studied wild barnacle geese ( Branta leucopsis ) to investigate the influence of multiple interacting lunar cycles on the physiology of diurnally active animals. Our study, which uses biologging technology to continually monitor body temperature and heart rate for an entire annual cycle, asks whether there is evidence for a physiological response to natural cycles in lunar brightness in wild birds, particularly “supermoon” phenomena, where perigee coincides with a full moon. There was a three‐way interaction between lunar phase, lunar distance, and cloud cover as predictors of nighttime mean body temperature, such that body temperature was highest on clear nights when the full moon coincided with perigee moon. Our study is the first to report the physiological responses of wild birds to “supermoon” events; the wild geese responded to the combination of two independent lunar cycles, by significantly increasing their body temperature at night. That wild birds respond to natural fluctuations in nighttime ambient light levels support the documented responses of many species to anthropogenic sources of artificial light, that birds seem unable to override. As most biological systems are arguably organized foremost by light, this suggests that any interactions between lunar cycles and local weather conditions could have significant impacts on the energy budgets of birds.

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Does predation risk, through moon phase and predator cues, modulate food intake, antipredatory and physiological responses in wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus)?

Cited by 56 publications

References 66 publications

Wood mice aggressiveness and flight response to human handling: Effect of individual and environmental factors

Wood mice aggressiveness and flight response to human handling: Effect of individual and environmental factors

Seed fate and decision‐making processes in scatter‐hoarding rodents

Impacts of “supermoon” events on the physiology of a wild bird

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