Coursing the mottled mosaic: Generalist predators track pulses in availability of neonatal ungulates

Huggler, Katey S.; Hayes, Matthew M.; Burke, Patrick W.; Zornes, Mark; Thompson, Daniel J.; Lionberger, Patrick; Valdez, Miguel; Monteith, Kevin L.

doi:10.1002/ece3.10378

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 81 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This rapid convergence across individuals to take advantage of an emerging pulse of a resource could be adaptive, as individuals each try to maximize their benefits from these ephemeral foods given they are likely unaware of when availability will peak (Nathoo et al., 2022 ). Yet once they detect a decline in availability, perhaps it becomes adaptive to switch off a declining pulse in favor of other foods (Huggler et al., 2023 ). Indeed, reduced fawn consumption post‐peak is likely partially explained by coyotes switching to blackberries as they become available, as has been observed in bear‐salmon‐berry systems elsewhere (Deacy et al., 2017 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resource pulses shape seasonal and individual variation in the diet of an omnivorous carnivore

Jensen,

Muthersbaugh,

Ruth

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Resource pulses are ecologically important phenomenon that occur in most ecosystems globally. Following optimal foraging theory, many consumers switch to pulsatile foods when available, examples of which include fruit mast and vulnerable young prey. Yet how the availability of resource pulses shapes the ecology of predators is still an emerging area of research; and how much individual variation there is in response to pulses is not well understood. We hypothesized that resource pulses would lead to dietary convergence in our population, which we tested by tracking both population‐level and individual coyote diets for 3 years in South Carolina, USA. We (1) described seasonal dietary shifts in relation to resource pulses; (2) compared male and female diets across seasons; and (3) tested this dietary convergence hypothesis by quantifying individual dietary variation both across and within periods when resource pulses were available. We found that pulses of white‐tailed deer fawns and blackberries composed over half of coyote diet in summer, and persimmon fruits were an important component in fall. Male and female coyotes generally had similar diets, but males consumed more deer in fall, perhaps driven by scavenging more. We found support for our dietary convergence hypothesis, where individuals had more similar diets during resource pulses compared to a non‐pulse period. We also found that this convergence happened before peak availability, suggesting a non‐symmetric response to pulse availability. We show that nearly all coyotes eat fawns, suggesting that targeted efforts to remove “fawn killers” would be in vain. Instead, given how quickly coyotes collectively converge on resource pulses, our findings show that resource pulses could potentially be used by managers to alter the behavior of apex predators. More broadly, we open a new line of inquiry into how variation in individual foraging decisions scales up to shape the effects of resource pulses on ecological communities.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resource pulses shape seasonal and individual variation in the diet of an omnivorous carnivore

Jensen,

Muthersbaugh,

Ruth

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Maternal behaviors influence survival of ungulate neonates under heavy predation risk

Muthersbaugh,

Boone,

Saldo

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Predators impose top‐down forces on prey populations, with the strength of those effects often varying over space and time and among demographic groups. In ungulates, predation risk is typically greatest for neonatal offspring, with some suggesting that predators can key in on adult activity to locate hidden neonates. However, few field studies to date have been able to directly assess the influence of maternal care on ungulate neonate survival. Using a population of white‐tailed deer under heavy coyote predation pressure, we tested the maternal dispersion hypothesis, which suggests the dispersion of maternal activity temporally and spatially attenuates risk of predation for ungulate neonates during this vulnerable altricial phase. We compared support for this hypothesis with more commonly tested hypotheses regarding the influence of habitat conditions and intrinsic factors on neonatal survival. Fawn survival to 16 weeks was 27.7%, with coyotes accounting for 59% of fawn mortalities. In support of our maternal temporal diffusion hypothesis, we found that neonatal survival decreased as more maternal visits (proportionally) occurred at night. The only other significant (p < .1) predictor of fawn survival was birth timing, with fawn survival decreasing as the season progressed. Given that fawn survival declined as the proportion of nighttime visits increased, and that wild pig presence and human disturbance can push doe and fawn activity toward nocturnal hours, additional research is needed to determine whether managing pig and human disturbance can decrease fawn mortality. More broadly, given the importance of recruitment in ungulate population dynamics, our finding opens a potentially important new line of inquiry on how maternal behaviors influence predation risk in large animal predator–prey ecology.

show abstract

Spatial prey availability and pulsed reproductive tactics: Encounter risk in a canid–ungulate system

Brunet,

Huggler,

Holbrook

et al. 2024

Journal of Animal Ecology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Predation risk is a function of spatiotemporal overlap between predator and prey, as well as behavioural responses during encounters. Dynamic factors (e.g. group size, prey availability and animal movement or state) affect risk, but rarely are integrated in risk assessments. Our work targets a system where predation risk is fundamentally linked to temporal patterns in prey abundance and behaviour. For neonatal ungulate prey, risk is defined within a short temporal window during which the pulse in parturition, increasing movement capacity with age and antipredation tactics have the potential to mediate risk. In our coyote–mule deer (Canis latrans–Odocoileus hemionus) system, leveraging GPS data collected from both predator and prey, we tested expectations of shared enemy and reproductive risk hypotheses. We asked two questions regarding risk: (A) How does primary and alternative prey habitat, predator and prey activity, and reproductive tactics (e.g. birth synchrony and maternal defence) influence the vulnerability of a neonate encountering a predator? (B) How do the same factors affect behaviour by predators relative to the time before and after an encounter? Despite increased selection for mule deer and intensified search behaviour by coyotes during the peak in mule deer parturition, mule deer were afforded protection from predation via predator swamping, experiencing reduced per‐capita encounter risk when most neonates were born. Mule deer occupying rabbit habitat (Sylvilagus spp.; coyote's primary prey) experienced the greatest risk of encounter but the availability of rabbit habitat did not affect predator behaviour during encounters. Encounter risk increased in areas with greater availability of mule deer habitat: coyotes shifted their behaviour relative to deer habitat, and the pulse in mule deer parturition and movement of neonatal deer during encounters elicited increased speed and tortuosity by coyotes. In addition to the spatial distribution of prey, temporal patterns in prey availability and animal behavioural state were fundamental in defining risk. Our work reveals the nuanced consequences of pulsed availability on predation risk for alternative prey, whereby responses by predators to sudden resource availability, the lasting effects of diversionary prey and inherent antipredation tactics ultimately dictate risk.

show abstract

Coursing the mottled mosaic: Generalist predators track pulses in availability of neonatal ungulates

Cited by 3 publications

References 81 publications

Resource pulses shape seasonal and individual variation in the diet of an omnivorous carnivore

Resource pulses shape seasonal and individual variation in the diet of an omnivorous carnivore

Maternal behaviors influence survival of ungulate neonates under heavy predation risk

Spatial prey availability and pulsed reproductive tactics: Encounter risk in a canid–ungulate system

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About