Gradients in predation risk in a tropical river system

Deacon, Amy E.; Jones, Faith A. M.; Magurran, Anne E.

doi:10.1093/cz/zoy004

Cited by 44 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…We conducted the study between 4 and 20 March 2018 in the upper rainforest region of the Turure River in the Northern Range of Trinidad & Tobago (10°41'8"N, 61°10'22"W). This site has relatively few guppy predators [42,51] and is relatively resource poor due to low sunlight exposure [52]. We used seven natural pools in which we rearranged rocks and pebbles to maintain continuous water flow while minimizing the risk of fish migration.…”

Section: Materials and Methods (A) Study Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Causal evidence for the adaptive benefits of social foraging in the wild

Snijders

Krause

Tump

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Sociality is a fundamental organizing principle across taxa, thought to come with a suite of adaptive benefits. However, making causal inferences about these adaptive benefits requires experimental manipulation of the social environment, which is rarely feasible in the field. Here we manipulated the number of conspecifics in Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata) in the wild, and quantified how this affected a key benefit of sociality, social foraging, by investigating several components of foraging success. As adaptive benefits of social foraging may differ between sexes, we studied males and females separately, expecting females, the more social and risk-averse sex, to benefit more from conspecifics than males. Conducting over 1,600 foraging trials, we found that in both sexes, increasing the number of conspecifics led to faster detection of novel food patches and a higher probability of feeding following detection of the patch, resulting in greater individual resource consumption. The slope of the latter relationship differed between the sexes, with males unexpectedly exhibiting a stronger social benefit. Our study provides rare causal evidence for the adaptive benefits of social foraging in the wild, and highlights that sex differences in sociality do not necessarily imply an unequal ability to profit from the presence of others.

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Section: Materials and Methods (A) Study Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Causal evidence for the adaptive benefits of social foraging in the wild

Snijders

Krause

Tump

et al. 2020

Preprint

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“…The Lopinot River is a high predation stream, with a diverse predator guild including pike cichlids ( Crenicichla sp. ), blue acara ( Andinocara pulcher ), brown coscarub ( Cichlasoma taenia ), and wolf fish ( Hoplias malabaricus ) (Deacon, Jones, & Magurran, ). The Upper Aripo can be considered a low‐predation population, as the only aquatic predator present is the Hart's rivulus ( Anablepsoides hartii ), which prey primarily on newly emerged juvenile guppies (Deacon et al, ; Endler & Houde, ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…), blue acara ( Andinocara pulcher ), brown coscarub ( Cichlasoma taenia ), and wolf fish ( Hoplias malabaricus ) (Deacon, Jones, & Magurran, ). The Upper Aripo can be considered a low‐predation population, as the only aquatic predator present is the Hart's rivulus ( Anablepsoides hartii ), which prey primarily on newly emerged juvenile guppies (Deacon et al, ; Endler & Houde, ). Guppies were transported to the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad, and housed in 110‐L glass aquaria (separated by population).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disturbance cues as a source of risk assessment information under natural conditions

2020

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Disturbance cues are released by stressed or disturbed prey prior to a predator attack and convey useful risk assessment information regarding local threats. While studies have shown that disturbance cues may be important early on within the predation sequence (prior to an attack), their role in predator–prey interactions remains relatively overlooked by ecologists. Critically, experimental studies examining disturbance cues, especially among prey fishes, have been conducted primarily under laboratory or semi‐natural conditions. Here, we tested the prediction that disturbance cues function as sources of risk assessment information in situ. We exposed Trinidadian guppies, in two natural populations differing in predation risk, to a model predator paired with stream water or the disturbance cue collected from guppies from either a high‐ or low‐predation risk population. We found that the predator inspection response of guppies to disturbance cues depends on the level of risk of both the focal and the cue source population. Guppies from both populations exhibited increased latencies to inspect, lower inspection rates and reduced inspecting group sizes towards the model paired with conspecific disturbance cues versus a stream water control. Interestingly, guppies of both populations showed evidence of higher perceived predation risk towards the disturbance cues collected from high‐predation risk donors compared to low‐predation risk donors. Our results support the hypothesis that disturbance cues function as a source of information used by prey fish in the assessment of predation risk and provide the first evidence of disturbance cue function under fully natural conditions.

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“…To study prey response to both predictable and unpredictable variation in predation risk in the wild, we need to first measure this natural variation in risk of predation over a period of time.This can be challenging as predators are typically present at low densities (Boland, 2003;Creel & Winnie, 2005), but see (Juliana, Kotler, Brown, Mukherjee, & Bouskila, 1999). However, recent evidence highlights the importance of measuring this variation, because they suggest that the risk of predation changes dramatically in the wild over space and time, for example, when predators move across a landscape (Thaker et al, 2011;Watts, Jones, Herrig, Miller, & Tenhumberg, 2018), or when predators reproduce (Yoshida, Jones, Ellner, Fussmann, & Hairston, 2003;Deacon, Jones, & Magurran, 2018). Studies on the ecology of fear and predator-prey space use, measure and report systematic changes in predation risk to study prey behavioural response (Hammond, Luttbeg, & Sih, 2007;Mukherjee, Zelcer, & Kotler, 2009), (Thaker et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trait evolution under multiple selection pressures: Prey responses to predictable and unpredictable variation

Sharma¹,

Isvaran²

2019

Preprint

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When a strong selection pressure, such as predation risk, varies widely in space and time, how should prey respond? When risk varies predictably, prey are hypothesized to respond in a risksensitive manner. It is less clear how prey should respond when risk varies unpredictably.Additionally, prey response may also depend on how predation risk interacts with other selection pressures. Our understanding of the complex action of multiple and variable selection pressures on prey traits is still comparatively poor. Here, we examine how predictable and unpredictable aspects of predation risk act together with another important selection pressure to influence prey behaviour in the rock pool breeding mosquito, Aedes vexans. Through the selection of sites for oviposition, female mosquitoes can influence the predation risk faced by their offspring. We tested how females select oviposition sites, when encountering pools that vary in larval predation risk and desiccation risk. We comprehensively quantified spatial and temporal variation in predation risk by measuring densities of predatory dragonfly nymphs in rock pools of different sizes, along the mosquito breeding season. We also measured hydroperiod length. We next conducted manipulative experiments in rock pools and measured female oviposition responses to variation in predation and desiccation risks. Predation risk varied widely in space and time. Desiccation risk only appeared important for the small pools. Ovipositing females appeared to respond to these multiple aspects of variation in selection pressures. Females seemed to respond to predictable variation by avoiding large pools that permanently harboured predators in natural settings. Female responses were more variable to medium-sized pools with naturally stochastic predator densities, highlighting the role of unpredictability in predation risk in shaping behaviour. Females did not clearly prefer small pools that were naturally devoid of predators but carried high desiccation risk, suggesting that they balance multiple risks -predation versus desiccation -when choosing oviposition sites. Our study suggests that wild populations may commonly experience multiple and variable selection pressures that can favour seemingly puzzling trait variation. We highlight the need to quantify variation in selection pressures and investigate how such variation, especially the unpredictable aspects, shapes 2 4 6

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Gradients in predation risk in a tropical river system

Cited by 44 publications

References 56 publications

Causal evidence for the adaptive benefits of social foraging in the wild

Causal evidence for the adaptive benefits of social foraging in the wild

Disturbance cues as a source of risk assessment information under natural conditions

Trait evolution under multiple selection pressures: Prey responses to predictable and unpredictable variation

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