Meta-analysis of foraging and predation risk trade-offs in terrestrial systems

Verdolin, Jennifer L.

doi:10.1007/s00265-006-0172-6

Cited by 403 publications

(331 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…Furthermore, it strongly depends on the costs of the prey which defense mechanisms evolve (Bateman et al., 2014). Post‐attack defenses may evolve if pre‐attack defenses are very costly, for example, if avoiding habitats with predators substantially lowers the possibility of resource acquisition (Verdolin, 2006). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Not attackable or not crackable—How pre‐ and post‐attack defenses with different competition costs affect prey coexistence and population dynamics

Ehrlich

Gaedke

2018

Ecology and Evolution

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It is well‐known that prey species often face trade‐offs between defense against predation and competitiveness, enabling predator‐mediated coexistence. However, we lack an understanding of how the large variety of different defense traits with different competition costs affects coexistence and population dynamics. Our study focusses on two general defense mechanisms, that is, pre‐attack (e.g., camouflage) and post‐attack defenses (e.g., weaponry) that act at different phases of the predator—prey interaction. We consider a food web model with one predator, two prey types and one resource. One prey type is undefended, while the other one is pre‐ or post‐attack defended paying costs either by a higher half‐saturation constant for resource uptake or a lower maximum growth rate. We show that post‐attack defenses promote prey coexistence and stabilize the population dynamics more strongly than pre‐attack defenses by interfering with the predator's functional response: Because the predator spends time handling “noncrackable” prey, the undefended prey is indirectly facilitated. A high half‐saturation constant as defense costs promotes coexistence more and stabilizes the dynamics less than a low maximum growth rate. The former imposes high costs at low resource concentrations but allows for temporally high growth rates at predator‐induced resource peaks preventing the extinction of the defended prey. We evaluate the effects of the different defense mechanisms and costs on coexistence under different enrichment levels in order to vary the importance of bottom‐up and top‐down control of the prey community.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Not attackable or not crackable—How pre‐ and post‐attack defenses with different competition costs affect prey coexistence and population dynamics

Ehrlich

Gaedke

2018

Ecology and Evolution

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“…energetic costs, exposure to predators [26,27]). Unsurprisingly, a previous survey of stomach contents reported that toads are an infrequent food for R. tigrinus at this study site [20].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Active foraging for toxic prey during gestation in a snake with maternal provisioning of sequestered chemical defences

Kojima

Mori

2015

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Many animals sequester dietary defensive compounds and incorporate them into the offspring, which protects the young against predation. One possible but poorly investigated question is whether females of such species actively prey upon toxic diets. The snake Rhabdophis tigrinus sequesters defensive steroids from toads consumed as prey; it also feeds on other amphibians. Females produce chemically armed offspring in direct proportion to their own level of toad-derived toxins by provisioning the toxins to their eggs. Our field observations of movements and stomach contents of radio-tracked R. tigrinus showed that gravid snakes preyed upon toads by actively foraging in the habitat of toads, even though toads were a scarce resource and toad-searching may incur potential costs. Our Y-maze experiments demonstrated that gravid females were more likely to trail the chemical cues of toads than were males or non-gravid females. These results showed behavioural switching in females and active foraging for scarce, toxic prey during gestation. Because exploitation of toads by gravid females results in their offspring being more richly endowed with prey-derived toxins, active foraging for toxic prey is expected to be an adaptive antipredator trait, which may enhance chemical defence in offspring.

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“…Cues can also be characterized by whether they are produced directly by the attacker (e.g., predator urine or herbivore mating pheromones), or from a successful attack (cell wall fragments or molecules). Direct cues from predators or predation events contrast with indirect cues, which indicate a risky environment [13,14].…”

Section: Cues Vary In Reliability and Cost To Obtainmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Animals often respond strongly to direct cues (e.g., predator urine) when indirect cues are absent. Studies that compare responses to direct and indirect cues often find the greatest reduction in foraging in risky habitats (an indirect cue) [14]. Indirect cues about habitat presumably provide more reliable information about overall risk from multiple different predators.…”

Section: How Do Animals and Plants Respond To Risk?mentioning

confidence: 99%