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Oecologia

Title:		Predation cues rather than resource availability promote cryptic behaviour in a habitat-forming sea urchin
Author(s):		Spyksma AJ; Taylor RB; Shears NT;
Address:		"Leigh Marine Laboratory, Institute of Marine Science, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. spyksma.ap@gmail.com. Leigh Marine Laboratory, Institute of Marine Science, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand"
Journal Title:		Oecologia
Year:		2017
Volume:		20170113
Issue:		3
Page Number:		821 - 829
DOI:		10.1007/s00442-017-3809-4
ISSN/ISBN:		1432-1939 (Electronic) 0029-8549 (Linking)
Abstract:		"It is well known that predators often influence the foraging behaviour of prey through the so-called 'fear effect'. However, it is also possible that predators could change prey behaviour indirectly by altering the prey's food supply through a trophic cascade. The predator-sea urchin-kelp trophic cascade is widely assumed to be driven by the removal of sea urchins by predators, but changes in sea urchin behaviour in response to predators or increased food availability could also play an important role. We tested whether increased crevice occupancy by herbivorous sea urchins in the presence of abundant predatory fishes and lobsters is a response to the increased risk of predation, or an indirect response to higher kelp abundances. Inside two New Zealand marine reserves with abundant predators and kelp, individuals of the sea urchin Evechinus chloroticus were rarer and remained cryptic (i.e. found in crevices) to larger sizes than on adjacent fished coasts where predators and kelp are rare. In a mesocosm experiment, cryptic behaviour was induced by simulated predation (the addition of crushed conspecifics), but the addition of food in the form of drift kelp did not induce cryptic behaviour. These findings demonstrate that the 'fear' of predators is more important than food availability in promoting sea urchin cryptic behaviour and suggest that both density- and behaviourally mediated interactions are important in the predator-sea urchin-kelp trophic cascade"
Keywords:		Animals *Cues Ecosystem *Food Chain Predatory Behavior Sea Urchins Behaviourally mediated indirect interaction Density-mediated indirect interaction Fear effect Kelp forest Trophic cascades;
Notes:		"MedlineSpyksma, Arie J P Taylor, Richard B Shears, Nick T eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Germany 2017/01/17 Oecologia. 2017 Mar; 183(3):821-829. doi: 10.1007/s00442-017-3809-4. Epub 2017 Jan 13"