Effects of Food and Predation on Behaviour of Prairie Voles: A Field Experiment

Desy, Elizabeth A.; Batzli, George O.; Liu, J.

doi:10.2307/3545423

Cited by 110 publications

(92 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…In these and other studies (eg Jones 1990), the relative contributions of additional food and increased intruder pressure to reduction in territory size could not be discerned. However, Desy et al (1990) determined experimentally that home-range sizes of prairie voles Microtus ochrogaster were affected directly by population density and indirectly by food supplementation. This conclusion was supported by the experiment of Ostfeld and Canham (1995), who observed that home ranges of meadow voles M. pennsylvanicus decreased with increasing density, even though food availability decreased.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Space use and juvenile recruitment in gray-tailed volves in response to intruder pressure and food abundance

Wolff

Schauber²

1996

Acta Theriol.

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Wolff J. O. and Schauber E. M. 1996. Space use and juvenile recruitment in gray-tailed voles in response to intruder pressure and food abundance. Acta Theriologica 41: 35-43.We examined space use by female gray-tailed voles Microtus canicaudus (Miller, 1897) and recruitment of juveniles in response to relative abundance of food and increased intruder pressure following experimental removal of habitat. Our experiment indirectly tested the assumptions of the food-defense and pup-defense hypotheses for female territoriality. Following a 70% reduction in habitat, territories of females shrunk from -50 m to < 20 m with no significant difference in pregnancy rates or overall juvenile recruitment compared to controls. Juvenile recruitment was not adversely affected by overall density or the numbers of males sharing a patch, but decreased significantly as the number of unrelated adult females sharing a patch increased. We did not measure infanticide directly, but the decreased rate of juvenile recruitment in the presence of adult females but not males suggests that pup mortality rather than food limitation contributed to reduced juvenile recruitment. We conclude that at high densities, increased intruder pressure from adult females had a greater impact on juvenile recruitment than did food abundance. Thus, our results suggest that patterns of space use, reproductive rates, and juvenile recruitment were more consistent with the pup-defense than the food-defense hypothesis for female territoriality.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Space use and juvenile recruitment in gray-tailed volves in response to intruder pressure and food abundance

Wolff

Schauber²

1996

Acta Theriol.

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“…In the face of life threat, the immediate behavioral responses of a prey animal may include: (i) freezingremaining immobile, typically while crouching and sometimes also relying on camouflage, in order to evade the attention of the predator [6,20,21,35,42]; (ii) fleeing-galloping away from the vicinity of the predator [5,8]; and (iii) fighting (or defensive threat)-heading toward the predator in agonistic display. Defensive fighting occurs only when the prey cannot avoid the predator [30].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rev. 21 (6) for several reviews on various perspectives of defensive behavior). These findings suggest that different defensive behaviors (e.g., freezing or fleeing) may result from independent biobehavioral systems, albeit having a common evolutionary focus on defense against danger.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Protean behavior under barn-owl attack: voles alternate between freezing and fleeing and spiny mice flee in alternating patterns

Edut

Eilam

2004

Behavioural Brain Research

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When attacking a spiny mouse in an experimental arena, a barn owl launched a few attacks from distant perches, made repetitive short-distance swoops in each attack and remained in the vicinity of the prey while chasing it. The spiny mouse fled in response, and typically oriented to face the owl whenever it stopped. When attacking a vole, the barn owl performed a greater number of attacks from distant perches, and left the vicinity of the prey after a few short-distance chases or capture attempts. Voles responded to these attacks in unspecific combinations of freezing and fleeing, and did not turn to face the owl when they stopped. Four conclusions are drawn from these encounters. First, two strategies characterized these predator-prey interactions; in one, both predator and prey continuously maintained awareness of each other's location; whereas in the other they continuously attempted to avoid the attention of the other. Second, responses of spiny mice and voles were a manifestation of protean behavior, with spiny mice fleeing in an alternating pattern and voles alternating between running and freezing. Third, locomotor response to owl attack comprised behavior that is an augmentation of normal behavior, with voles clinging to the walls and spiny mice running with frequent and irregular changes in direction. Fourth, the different defensive responses accord with the motor capacities and habitat of each rodent species. All in all, these results demonstrate the dynamic and multidimensional nature of predator-prey interactions.

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“…Predators frequently limit and sometimes regulate prey populations (Erlinge et al 1984;Kidd and Lewis 1987;Sinclair 1989), and food supplementation has dramatic effects on population densities, home-range size, recruitment, reproduction, and immigration in small-mammal populations (Gilbert and Krebs 1981;Taitt and Krebs 1981;Mares et al 1982;Boutin 1990;Klenner and Krebs 1991). In addition, recent theoretical research (McNamara and Houston 1987;Lima and Dill 1990;Abrams 1994Abrams , 1999 and empirical evidence (e.g., Desy and Batzli 1989;Desy et al 1990;Dickman 1992;Hughes and Ward 1993;Hughes et al 1994;Hik 1995;Krebs et al 1995) suggest that external factors, such as food and predation, interact to limit populations. Few studies, however, have attempted large-scale (i.e., several hectares) experimental manipulation of external limiting factors (Crawley 1992;Carpenter et al 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental manipulation of predation and food supply of arctic ground squirrels in the boreal forest

Byrom¹,

Karels²,

Boonstra³

2000

Can. J. Zool.

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Abstract:We examined whether arctic ground squirrel (Spermophilus parryii plesius) populations in northern boreal forest in the Yukon Territory, Canada, were limited by food, predators, or a combination of both, during the decline and low phases of a snowshoe hare cycle. From 1990 to 1995, populations were monitored in large-scale (1 km 2 ) experimental manipulations. Squirrels were studied on eight 9-ha grids: four unmanipulated control grids, two foodsupplemented grids, a predator-exclosure grid, and a predator-exclosure + food-supplemented grid. Population density was measured on all grids by livetrapping and active-season survival was measured using radiotelemetry. Population densities were lowest in 1992 and 1993 (2 years after the snowshoe hare population decline). Rates of population change were negative from 1991 to 1993, when predation pressure was most intense after the snowshoe hare decline, and positive from 1993 to 1995, when hares and predators were at low densities. Predation accounted for 125 of 130 mortalities (96%) of radio-collared squirrels. Adult survival was significantly lower in 1992 and 1993 than in 1994 and 1995, and was a strong predictor of annual rates of population change in arctic ground squirrels. Treatments were ranked as follows in their effect on adult survival: predator exclosure + food-supplemented > food-supplemented > predator exclosure > controls. Juvenile survival was lowest in 1992, and food addition and predator removal separately increased juvenile survival. On average, predator exclusion increased population densities twofold, food supplementation increased densities fourfold, and food supplementation and predator removal together increased densities 10-fold. We conclude that food and predation interact to limit arctic ground squirrel populations in the boreal forest during the decline and low phases of the snowshoe hare cycle. The snowshoe hare cycle may indirectly create a lagged secondary fluctuation in arctic ground squirrel populations through shared cyclic predators. 1319Résumé : Nous avons tenté de déterminer si les populations du Spermophile arctique du nord (Spermophilus parryii plesius) de la forêt boréale, au Yukon, Canada, sont régies par la nourriture, par les prédateurs ou par une combinaison des deux variables durant les phases de déclin et de faible densité du cycle du Lièvre d'Amérique. De 1990 à 1995, les populations ont été suivies au cours de manipulations expérimentales à grande échelle (1 km 2 ). Les spermophiles ont été étudiés en huit parcelles de 9 ha : quatre parcelles témoins non manipulées, deux parcelles recevant de la nourriture additionnelle, une parcelle excluant les prédateurs et une parcelle sans prédateurs mais avec addition de nourriture additionnelle. La densité des populations mesuré dans toutes les parcelles par capture d'animaux vivants, et la survie au cours de la saison d'activité, par radio-télémétrie. C'est en 1992 et 1993 que les densités de population ont été le plus faibles (2 ans après le déclin des populations de lièvre...

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Effects of Food and Predation on Behaviour of Prairie Voles: A Field Experiment

Cited by 110 publications

References 35 publications

Space use and juvenile recruitment in gray-tailed volves in response to intruder pressure and food abundance

Space use and juvenile recruitment in gray-tailed volves in response to intruder pressure and food abundance

Protean behavior under barn-owl attack: voles alternate between freezing and fleeing and spiny mice flee in alternating patterns

Experimental manipulation of predation and food supply of arctic ground squirrels in the boreal forest

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