Flight initiation distance is differentially sensitive to the costs of staying and leaving food patches in a small-mammal prey

Lagos, PA; Meier A.; Tolhuysen, LO; Castro, RA; Bozinovic F.; Ebensperger, LA

Abstract

Escape theory predicts that a prey should flee from an approaching predator at a point in which the cost of staying equals the cost of escape. We manipulated the cost of fleeing upon approaching human predators by providing the small mammal Octodon degus (Molina, 1782) with varying amounts of supplementary food likely to disappear while the animals are not in the food patch (e.g., hidden in their burrows). Simultaneously, we manipulated the risk of remaining in the patch by providing supplementary food at varying distances from the nearest burrow. Degus fled at a shorter distance to approaching predators when foraging in patches closer to the nearest burrow and supplied with relatively high abundance of food, but only when these rodents were foraging socially. Also, degus fled at a greater distance to approaching predators when foraging in patches far from the nearest burrow. Thus, functions linked to the loss of feeding opportunities and the risk of predation interact to influence flight initiation distance after a simulated attack. This study represented one of the few demonstrations of an interactive effect between cost and risks on antipredator behavior in a small, social prey mammal.

Más información

Título según WOS: Flight initiation distance is differentially sensitive to the costs of staying and leaving food patches in a small-mammal prey
Título según SCOPUS: Flight initiation distance is differentially sensitive to the costs of staying and leaving food patches in a small-mammal prey
Título de la Revista: CANADIAN JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY-REVUE CANADIENNE DE ZOOLOGIE
Volumen: 87
Número: 11
Editorial: NATL RESEARCH COUNCIL CANADA
Fecha de publicación: 2009
Página de inicio: 1016
Página final: 1023
Idioma: English
URL: http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/Z09-089
DOI:

10.1139/Z09-089

Notas: ISI, SCOPUS