| Title: | "Prey tells, large herbivores fear the human 'super predator'" |
| Author(s): | Crawford DA; Conner LM; Clinchy M; Zanette LY; Cherry MJ; |
| Address: | "Department of Rangeland and Wildlife Sciences, Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, Texas A&M University - Kingsville, 700 University Blvd, MSC 218, Kingsville, TX, 78363, USA. daniel.crawford@jonesctr.org. The Jones Center at Ichauway, 3988 Jones Center Drive, Newton, GA, 39870, USA. daniel.crawford@jonesctr.org. The Jones Center at Ichauway, 3988 Jones Center Drive, Newton, GA, 39870, USA. Department of Biology, Western University, London, ON, N6A 5B7, Canada. Department of Rangeland and Wildlife Sciences, Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, Texas A&M University - Kingsville, 700 University Blvd, MSC 218, Kingsville, TX, 78363, USA" |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s00442-021-05080-w |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1432-1939 (Electronic) 0029-8549 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Fear of the human 'super predator' has been demonstrated to so alter the feeding behavior of large carnivores as to cause trophic cascades. It has yet to be experimentally tested if fear of humans has comparably large effects on the feeding behavior of large herbivores. We conducted a predator playback experiment exposing white-tailed deer to the vocalizations of humans, extant or locally extirpated non-human predators (coyotes, cougars, dogs, wolves), or non-predator controls (birds), at supplemental food patches to measure the relative impacts on deer feeding behavior. Deer were more than twice as likely to flee upon hearing humans than other predators, and hearing humans was matched only by hearing wolves in reducing overall feeding time gaged by visits to the food patch in the following hour. Combined with previous, site-specific research linking deer fecundity to predator abundance, this study reveals that fear of humans has the potential to induce a larger effect on ungulate reproduction than has ever been reported. By demonstrating that deer most fear the human 'super predator', our results point to the fear humans induce in large ungulates having population- and community-level impacts comparable to those caused by the fear humans induce in large carnivores" |
| Keywords: | Animals *Carnivora *Deer Dogs Food Chain Herbivory Humans Predatory Behavior *Wolves Behavioral response Ecology of fear Odocoileus virginianus Perceived predation risk Playback experiment; |
| Notes: | "MedlineCrawford, Daniel A Conner, L Mike Clinchy, Michael Zanette, Liana Y Cherry, Michael J eng JCI2020-06/joseph w. jones ecological research center/ Germany 2022/01/05 Oecologia. 2022 Jan; 198(1):91-98. doi: 10.1007/s00442-021-05080-w. Epub 2022 Jan 4" |
