10.5061/DRYAD.M60F221
Luttbeg, Barney
Oklahoma State University
Ferrari, Maud C O
University of Saskatchewan
Blumstein, Daniel T
University of California Los Angeles
Chivers, Douglas P
University of Saskatchewan
Data from: Safety cues can give prey more valuable information than danger cues
Dryad
dataset
2019
Behavior: antipredator
Modeling: predator/prey
optimality theory
Modeling: individual based
Ecology: behavioral
2022-04-26T00:00:00Z
2022-04-26T00:00:00Z
en
37638 bytes
2
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
The ability of prey to assess predation risk is fundamental to their
success. It is routinely assumed predator cues do not vary in reliability
across levels of predation risk. We propose that cues can differ in how
precisely they indicate different levels of predation risk. What we call
danger cues precisely indicate high risk levels, while safety cues
precisely indicate low risk levels. Using optimality modeling, we find
that prey fitness is increased when prey pay more attention to safety cues
than danger cues. This fitness advantage is greatest when prey need to
protect assets, predators are more dangerous, and predation risk increases
at an accelerating rate with prey foraging efforts. Each of these
conditions lead to prey foraging less when estimated predation risk is
higher. Danger cues have less value than safety cues because they give
precise information about risk when it is high, but prey behavior varies
little when risk is high. Safety cues give precise information about
levels of risk where prey behavior varies. These results highlight how our
fascination with predators may have biased the way we study predator-prey
interactions and focused too exclusively on cues that clearly indicate the
presence of predator rather than cues that clearly indicate their absence.
Safety cue code Aug2019 BetaThe first half of this R code is written for
the main model in the paper where an individual's terminal fitness is
equal to their foraging success (if they alive at the end of the time
steps). Second half is for when individuals immediately gain fitness
whenever they find food.Safety cue code Aug2019.R