Stick or twist: roe deer adjust their flight behaviour to the perceived trade-off between risk and reward

Bonnot, Nadège C.; Hewison, A. J. Mark; Morellet, Nicolas; Gaillard, Jean‐Michel; Debeffe, Lucie; Couriot, Ophélie; Cargnelutti, Bruno; Chaval, Yannick; Lourtet, Bruno; Kjellander, Petter; Vanpé, Cécile

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.11.031

Cited by 45 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…Conspicuousness-hypothesis: Usually males are more colorful and more conspicuous and flee earlier. We expect males to have larger DF and EH Thiel et al, (2007), Lailvaux et al, (2003) FID, EH, DF Experience-hypothesis: We expect differences between juveniles and older individuals due to different experience with predators Smith et al, (1984), Whiting et al, (2003) FID, EH, DF Flock-size hypothesis: We expect birds in flocks to have a higher FID than single birds or birds in smaller flocks Stankowich & Blumstein, (2005) FID, DF detection and hence decrease FID (Battle, Foltz, & Moore, 2016, Bjørvik, Dale, Hermansen, Munishi, & Moe, 2015, Bonnot et al, 2017, Randler, 2008a, Randler 2008bTätte et al, 2018, urbanization hypothesis). In our study area, the black redstart often breeds close to human settlements and hence is accustomed to human presence.…”

Section: Reference Outcome Variablementioning

confidence: 99%

“…While hiding and camouflage rather rely on visual cues such as shape and color, the other two defense mechanisms are based on an animal's immediate behavior. When a predator approaches, prey faces the decision whether to flee or not (Bonnot et al, ). Fleeing thereby can hold the cost of interrupting feeding or social interactions as well as the direct energetic costs of fleeing, but a successful escape might increase the future reproductive success.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Further, urbanization is known to affect the flight behavior of many animals and it is generally hypothesized, that animals in urban habitats have lower flight initiation distances than animals in rural habitats. This may be due to a higher habituation to human presence or ecological trade‐offs due to habitat quality, such as food availability or habitat obstruction that might hamper predator detection and hence decrease FID (Battle, Foltz, & Moore, , Bjørvik, Dale, Hermansen, Munishi, & Moe, , Bonnot et al, , Randler, , Randler ; Tätte et al, , urbanization hypothesis). In our study area, the black redstart often breeds close to human settlements and hence is accustomed to human presence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When a predator approaches, prey faces the decision whether to flee or not (Bonnot et al, 2017). Fleeing thereby can hold the cost of interrupting feeding or social interactions as well as the direct energetic costs of fleeing, but a successful escape might increase the future reproductive success.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Flight initiation distance and escape behavior in the black redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros)

2019

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There are many anti‐predatory escape strategies in animals. A well‐established method to assess escape behavior is the flight initiation distance (FID), which is the distance between prey and predator at which an animal flees. Previous studies in various species throughout the animal kingdom have shown that group size, urbanization, and distance to refuge and body mass affect FID. In most species, FID increases if body mass, group size or distance to refuge decreases. However, how age and sexual dimorphism affect FID is rather unknown. Here, we assess the escape behavior and FID of the black redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros), a small turdid passerine. When approached by a human, males initiated flights later, that is allowing a closer approach than females. Males of this species are more conspicuous, and therefore, may exhibit aposematism to deter potential predators or are less fearful than females. Additionally, juveniles fled at shorter distances and fled to lower heights than adults. Lastly, concerning escape strategy, black redstarts, unless other passerine birds, fled less often into cover, but rather onto open or elevated spots. Black redstarts are especially prone to predation by ambushing predators that might hide in cover. Hence, this species most likely has a higher chance of escaping by fleeing to an open spot rather than to a potentially risky cover.

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Section: Reference Outcome Variablementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Flight initiation distance and escape behavior in the black redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros)

2019

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“…Short‐term studies, conducted in late autumn–winter or early spring in areas where hunting occurs, have suggested a negative relationship between group size and vigilance of roe deer ( cf . Benhaiem et al, ; Sönnichsen et al, ; Bonnot et al, ; but see Mrlik, ). However, no information is available for other seasons—including crucial stages of the life cycle of this ungulate, i.e., births, early maternal cares, mating and early post‐weaning.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

To scan or not to scan? Occurrence of the group‐size effect in a seasonally nongregarious forager

Fattorini

Ferretti

2019

Ethology

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Group‐living requires a compromise between safety and direct/indirect costs for individuals. The larger is the group, the greater is the collective vigilance, leading to a greater net food intake per forager because of the time saved individually from scanning behaviour. In turn, individual alertness usually decreases with increasing group size (“group‐size effect”). Information on the occurrence of group‐size effect is still unclear. Previous studies have shown that it may fail to occur or even reverse, for example when costs of interference between conspecifics are high. In turn, assessing whether the group‐size effect would occur in weakly or seasonally gregarious species may help to understand its drivers. We evaluated the occurrence and the extent of group‐size effect in a seasonally nongregarious herbivore, the roe deer Capreolus capreolus. We examined the roles of sex/age class and season as drivers of vigilance behaviour. In roe deer, the group‐size effect did not depend on sex/age class: time spent foraging increased with increasing group size; in turn, vigilance increased with decreasing group size, in all sex/age classes. Females with fawns were the most vigilant sex/age class, thus revealing the cost of offspring protection. Accordingly, the higher spring vigilance levels of does could be related to reproductive costs (e.g., defence of newborn fawns). Conversely, the greater summer vigilance of bucks could result from patrolling/defence of territories. Both adult males and females also showed the higher vigilance in winter, likely because of an increase in the perception of predation risk and/or, possibly, hormones linked to an increase in intolerance of conspecifics, in males. However, the group‐size effect occurred in all the seasons, for adult males and females. Our findings suggest that foraging benefits provided by the group‐size effect may have overcome costs of group‐living, even in a weakly gregarious forager.

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Estimating relationships between size and fecundity in the threatened giant garter snake in seminatural and agricultural wetlands

et al. 2019

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Increasing numbers of populations of threatened and endangered plants and animals occur in environments altered by human activity. Life history traits may vary among populations in natural and human‐dominated environments, and therefore, management strategies may need to be tailored to different environments to promote persistence. The primary objectives of this project were to estimate the probability of being pregnant for females of the threatened giant garter snake (Thamnophis gigas) and test for differences in these demographic parameters between populations in seminatural wetlands and wetlands in areas dominated by rice agriculture. We also hypothesized that the probability of breeding and the number of fetuses would increase with increasing body size, a commonly reported relationship for snakes. We analysed data on T. gigas fecundity from 9 years using a Bayesian hurdle model and found no evidence of variation in the probability of being pregnant or in the number of fetuses given pregnancy for T. gigas in the two environments. The probability of being pregnant in a year was higher for females of larger size and ranged from <0.10 for snakes smaller than 631 mm snout‐to‐vent length (SVL) to >0.96 for the largest females. Similarly, given that a female was pregnant, the number of fetuses produced was higher for larger females. Pregnant females of average SVL were expected to produce 14 fetuses, and the largest females were expected to produce 34 fetuses. The inferences from our analyses are needed for subsequent population modeling, which will guide planning and decision‐making for T. gigas.

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Stick or twist: roe deer adjust their flight behaviour to the perceived trade-off between risk and reward

Cited by 45 publications

References 61 publications

Flight initiation distance and escape behavior in the black redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros)

Flight initiation distance and escape behavior in the black redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros)

To scan or not to scan? Occurrence of the group‐size effect in a seasonally nongregarious forager

Estimating relationships between size and fecundity in the threatened giant garter snake in seminatural and agricultural wetlands

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