Fifty years of chasing lizards: new insights advance optimal escape theory

Samia, Diogo S. M.; Blumstein, Daniel T.; Stankowich, Theodore; Cooper, William E.

doi:10.1111/brv.12173

Cited by 122 publications

(120 citation statements)

References 192 publications

(185 reference statements)

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“…In this sense, behavioral plasticity is one of the key elements that permits species to coexist with humans (Sol et al, 2013). For instance, because escape from nonthreatening humans is costly (Ydenberg and Dill, 1986;Cooper and Frederick, 2007;Samia et al, 2016), and because humans in cities rarely hunt or otherwise intentionally kill animals (Berger, 2007), urban prey are expected to respond to humans by reducing costly anti-predator behavior. In addition, humans in urban areas often displace predators (Møller, 2012), creating human shields where prey are relatively safe (Berger, 2007;Ibáñez-Álamo et al, 2012;Møller, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rural-Urban Differences in Escape Behavior of European Birds across a Latitudinal Gradient

et al. 2017

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Behavioral adjustment is a key factor that facilitates species' coexistence with humans in a rapidly urbanizing world. Because urban animals often experience reduced predation risk compared to their rural counterparts, and because escape behavior is energetically costly, we expect that urban environments will select for increased tolerance to humans. Many studies have supported this expectation by demonstrating that urban birds have reduced flight initiation distance (FID = predator-prey distance when escape by the prey begins) than rural birds. Here, we advanced this approach and, for the first time, assessed how 32 species of birds, found in 92 paired urban-rural populations, along a 3,900 km latitudinal gradient across Europe, changed their predation risk assessment and escape strategy as a function of living in urban areas. We found that urban birds took longer than rural birds to be alerted to human approaches, and urban birds tolerated closer human approach than rural birds. While both rural and urban populations took longer to become aware of an approaching human as latitude increased, this behavioral change with latitude is more intense in urban birds (for a given unit of latitude, urban birds increased their pre-detection distance more than rural birds). We also found that as mean alert distance was shorter, urban birds escaped more quickly from approaching humans, but there was no such a relationship in rural populations. Although, both rural and urban populations tended to escape more quickly as latitude increased, urban birds delayed their escape more at low latitudes when compared with rural birds. These results suggest that urban birds in Europe live under lower predation risk than their rural counterparts. Furthermore, the Samia et al.Rural-Urban Difference in Escape Behavior patterns found in our study indicate that birds prioritize the reduction of on-going monitoring costs when predation risk is low. We conclude that splitting escape variables into constituent components may provide additional and complementary information on the underlying causes of escape. This new approach is essential for understanding, predicting, and managing wildlife in a rapidly urbanizing world.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rural-Urban Differences in Escape Behavior of European Birds across a Latitudinal Gradient

et al. 2017

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“…One colorful example comes from decades of research on fear in lizards [41,42]. This research shows that a lizard's decision to flee an approaching predator depends on costs and benefits, such as their current distance from a safe hideout, which determines the cost (chance of death) if the predator gives chase.…”

Section: Emotions Are Algorithmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Emotional Moves of a Rational Actor: Smiles, Scowls, and Other Credible Messages

Reed

DeScioli

2017

Games

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Many scholars turn to emotions to understand irrational behavior. We do the opposite: we turn to rationality and game theory to understand people's emotions. We discuss a striking theory of emotions that began with the game theory of credible threats and promises, then was enriched by evolutionary biology and psychology, and now is being tested in psychological experiments. We review some of these experiments which use economic games to set up strategic situations with real payoffs. The experiments test whether a player's emotional expressions lend credibility to promises, threats, and claims of danger or hardship. The results offer insights into the hidden strategies behind a warm smile, an angry scowl, a look of terror, and eyes of despair.

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“…Within species, responses to approaching threats can vary due to individual age, sex, condition, risk tolerance, and habituation/sensitization, as shown in birds (Mumme et al 2000;Edelaar and Wright 2006;Møller 2010;DeVault et al 2014DeVault et al , 2015Borneman et al 2016), mammals (Bejder et al 2006;Andersen and Aars 2008;Li et al 2011), reptiles (Samia et al 2016), and fish (Ferrari et al 2007). Individual escape behaviours also might reflect differences in body condition or head orientation relative to the approaching threat, or distractions resulting from social interactions .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual variation in avian avoidance behaviours in response to repeated, simulated vehicle approach

DeVault¹,

Seamans²,

Blackwell³

et al. 2018

Can. J. Zool.

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Birds exhibit variation in alert and flight behaviours in response to vehicles within and between species, but it is unclear how properties inherent to individuals influence variation in avoidance responses over time. We examined individual variation in avoidance behaviours of Brown-headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater (Boddaert, 1783)) in response to repeated presentation of a simulated vehicle approach in a video playback scenario. We modeled temporal alert and flight behaviours to determine whether overall behavioural variation resulted primarily from variation within individuals (i.e., intraindividual variation) or between individuals (i.e., interindividual variation). We examined reaction norms (individual × treatment day) and whether birds showed plasticity in responses via habituation or sensitization. Repeatability in the response metrics for individuals was low (ϳ0.22 for alert and flight), indicating that model variation was due primarily to within-individual variation rather than between-individual variation. We observed sensitization in alert responses over time, but no sensitization or habituation in flight responses. Our results indicate that individuals learned to anticipate the vehicle approach but did not vary their escape behaviour, suggesting that alert and flight behaviours might be affected differently by cues associated with oncoming objects or experience with them. We consider our findings in light of the ongoing development of strategies to reduce animal-vehicle collisions.Key words: behaviour, bird strike, Brown-headed Cowbird, collision, Molothrus ater, repeatability, sensitization. (Boddaert, 1783)) en réponse à la présentation répétée d'une approche de véhicule simulée dans un scénario de reprise vidéo. Nous avons modélisé les comportements d'alerte et de fuite dans le temps afin de déterminer si les variations comportementales globales résultaient principalement de variations intraindividuelles ou interindividuelles. Nous avons examiné les normes de réaction (individu × jour du traitement) et si les réactions des oiseaux présentaient une plasticité sous forme d'accoutumance ou de sensibilisation. La répétabilité des mesures de réaction pour les individus était faible (ϳ0,22 pour l'alerte et la fuite), ce qui indique que les variations modélisées étaient principalement dues à des variations intraindividuelles plutôt qu'interindividuelles. Nous avons noté une sensibilisation dans les réactions d'alerte avec le temps, mais aucune sensibilisation ou accoutumance dans les réactions de fuite. Nos résultats indiquent que les individus ont appris à anticiper l'approche d'un véhicule, mais n'ont pas modifié leur comportement d'échappement, ce qui porte à croire que les comportements d'alerte et de fuite des oiseaux pourraient être influencés différemment par des signaux associés à des objets se dirigeant vers eux ou par leur expérience individuelle de tels signaux. Nous discutons de nos constatations dans le contexte de l'élaboration de stratégies pour réduire les collisions entre animau...

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Fifty years of chasing lizards: new insights advance optimal escape theory

Cited by 122 publications

References 192 publications

Rural-Urban Differences in Escape Behavior of European Birds across a Latitudinal Gradient

Rural-Urban Differences in Escape Behavior of European Birds across a Latitudinal Gradient

The Emotional Moves of a Rational Actor: Smiles, Scowls, and Other Credible Messages

Individual variation in avian avoidance behaviours in response to repeated, simulated vehicle approach

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