Rain, recreation and risk: Human activity and ecological disturbance create seasonal risk landscapes for the prey of an ambush predator

Abstract

Predation risk and prey responses exhibit fluctuations in space and time. Seasonal ecological disturbances can alter landscape structure and permeability to influence predator activity and efficacy, creating predictable patterns of risk for prey (seasonal risk landscapes). This may create corresponding seasonal shifts in antipredator behaviour, mediated by species ecology and trade‐offs between risk and resources. Yet, how human recreation interacts with seasonal risk landscapes and antipredator behaviour remains understudied. In South Florida, we investigated the impact of a seasonal ecological disturbance, specifically flooding, which is inversely related to human activity, on interactions between Florida panthers (Puma concolor coryi) and white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). We hypothesized that human activity and ecological disturbances would interact with panther‐deer ecology, resulting in the emergence of two distinct seasonal landscapes of predation risk and the corresponding antipredator responses. We conducted camera trap surveys across southwestern Florida to collect detection data on humans, panthers and deer. We analysed the influence of human site use and flooding on deer and panther detection probability, co‐occurrence and diel activity during the flooded and dry seasons. Flooding led to decreased panther detections and increased deer detections, resulting in reduced deer‐panther co‐occurrence during the flooded season. Panthers exhibited increased nocturnality and reduced diel activity overlap with deer in areas with higher human activity. Supporting our hypothesis, panthers' avoidance of human recreation and flooding created distinct risk schedules for deer, driving their antipredator behaviour. Deer utilized flooded areas to spatially offset predation risk during the flooded season while increasing diurnal activity in response to human recreation during the dry season. We highlight the importance of understanding how competing risks and ecological disturbances influence predator and prey behaviour, leading to the generation of seasonal risk landscapes and antipredator responses. We emphasize the role of cyclical ecological disturbances in shaping dynamic predator–prey interactions. Furthermore, we highlight how human recreation may function as a ‘temporal human shield,’ altering seasonal risk landscapes and antipredator responses to reduce encounter rates between predators and prey.

Population and community consequences of perceived risk from humans in wildlife

“…However, animals may also exhibit weaker or no response to humans if the benefit of increased energy intake from resource subsidies (Matassa et al, 2016) or refugia from predation (Muhly et al, 2011) outweighs the cost of higher anthropogenic risk. Responsiveness to humans may also fluctuate if foraging requirements and behaviours are seasonal due to breeding state or environmental conditions (Abernathy et al, 2023). Finally, humans might serve as an attractant if providing resource subsidies, causing animals to relax antipredator responses to access these resources (Darlington et al, 2022).…”

Survival, cause‐specific mortality, and population growth of white‐tailed deer in western Virginia

“…Variability in predator‐prey interactions is often a function of environmental conditions. For example, ecological disturbance, such as fire and flooding can result in considerable change in environmental conditions and can influence deer behavior during lactation (Lashley et al 2015, Cherry et al 2017, Abernathy et al 2022), interactions between deer and their predators (Doherty et al 2022, Abernathy et al 2023), and survival of neonates (Engebretsen et al 2023) and adult females (Bled et al 2022). Antipredator defenses exhibited by deer change with age, most notably when neonates complete the limited mobility period, abandon their hiding strategy, and begin to follow their mother.…”