10.5061/DRYAD.V15DV41XH
Brunet, Mitchell J.
0000-0002-3140-9648
University of Wyoming
Monteith, Kevin
University of Wyoming
Huggler, Katey
University of Wyoming
Clapp, Justin
Wyoming Game and Fish Department
Thompson, Daniel
Wyoming Game and Fish Department
Burke, Patrick
Wyoming Game and Fish Department
Zornes, Mark
Wyoming Game and Fish Department
Lionberger, Patrick
Bureau of Land Management
Valdez, Miguel
Bureau of Land Management
Holbrook, Joseph
University of Wyoming
Cats and dogs: A mesopredator navigating risk and reward provisioned by an
apex predator
Dryad
dataset
2022
FOS: Earth and related environmental sciences
2023-02-04T00:00:00Z
2023-02-04T00:00:00Z
en
382503569 bytes
7
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Successfully perceiving risk and reward is fundamental to the fitness of
an animal, and can be achieved through a variety of perception tactics.
For example, mesopredators may ‘directly’ perceive risk by visually
observing apex predators, or may ‘indirectly’ perceive risk by observing
habitats used by predators. Direct assessments should more accurately
characterize the arrangement of risk and reward; however, indirect
assessments are used more frequently in studies concerning the response of
GPS-marked animals to spatiotemporally variable sources of risk and
reward. We investigated the response of a mesopredator to the presence of
risk and reward created by an apex predator, where risk and reward likely
vary in relative perceptibility (i.e., degree of being perceptible).
First, we tested whether coyotes (Canis latrans) use direct or indirect
assessments to navigate the presence of mountain lions (Puma concolor;
risk) and kills made by mountain lions (reward) in an area where coyotes
were a common prey item for mountain lions. Second, we assessed the
behavioral response of coyotes to direct encounters with mountain lions.
Third, we evaluated spatiotemporal use of carrion by coyotes at kills made
by mountain lions. Indirect assessments generally outperformed direct
assessments when integrating analyses into a unified framework;
nevertheless, our ability to detect direct perception in navigating to
mountain lion kills was likely restricted by scale and sampling
limitations (e.g., collar fix rates, unsampled kill sites). Rather than
responding to the risk of direct encounters with mountain lions, coyotes
facilitated encounters by increasing their movement rate, and engaged in
risky behavior by scavenging at mountain lion kills. Coyotes appear to
mitigate risk by using indirect perception to avoid mountain lions. Our
predator-predator interactions and insights are nuanced and counter to the
conventional predator-prey systems that have generated much of the
predation risk literature.