Data for: McCormick MI, Ferrari MCO, Fakan E, Barry RP, Chivers DP (2018) Diet cues and their utility for risk assessment in degraded habitats

Data from two field experiments that together represent one manuscript (submitted 2018)Abstract [Related Publication]: Habitat degradation can alter community processes by changing the cues available to assess risk. Modifications to the composition of the benthic environment have been found to alter the chemical background through which chemical information passes. The change in coral reefs from live coral to algal-dominated seascapes has been shown to prevent some fish species from using chemical alarm cues to inform their risk of predation, although not all species are affected. Here, we examined whether chemically-mediated dietary information from predators can be used to label novel predators as a threat, whether their efficacy is modified by habitat degradation, and whether cues from prey species not affected by the change in chemistry associated with habitat degradation can be used to mitigate the problem. Laboratory and field experiments showed that Ambon damselfish, Pomacentrus amboinensis, were able to learn the identity of individual novel predators from a cocktail of 3 predators using digestive products when the predators had been fed conspecifics of the prey species in the presence of water that had passed over live hard coral. This allows the labelling of predator identity to be greatly extended beyond the immediate capture and ingestion event. Fish that had the same learning opportunity in degraded water took more risk and died faster on habitat patches in the field. Ambon damselfish respond to chemical alarm cues from closely-related heterospecific P. nagasakiensis, both in live or degraded water, yet we failed to find behavioural evidence that they can use the congeneric diet odours to label predators. However, we did find a modest survival benefit under natural conditions, suggesting some limited learning occurred. Further work is necessary to investigate the role of chemical information redundancy among community members, as they provide insights into potential resilience mechanisms available to individuals facing environmental change.Description [Key included in dataset]: Juvenile Pomacentrus amboinensis exposed to water from tanks that contained faeces of predators (combined moonwrasse, dottybacks, lizardfish predators) that has been fed P.amboinensis or P.nagakakiensis (congeneric) in water that has passed over Live or Dead-degraded Pocillopora damicornis hard coral in a header tank. Data is the behaviour and space use of lab conditioned P.amboinensis on patch reefs (Exp 2), and how these fish then respond to the odour of dottybacks (fed squid to avoid diet cues) that were delivered via a tube and syringe in the field (Exp 1).Data consists of a spreadsheet with three sheets: a description and data for each of the two experiments; and a short video.The full methodology is available in the publication shown in the Related Publications link below.

来自两项野外实验的数据，这些实验共同构成一篇手稿（2018年提交）
摘要[相关出版物]：栖息地退化可通过改变用于评估风险的信号来改变群落过程。研究发现，底栖环境组成的改变会影响化学信息传递所依赖的化学背景。珊瑚礁从活珊瑚向藻类主导的海景转变，已被证明会阻止某些鱼类利用化学警报信号（chemical alarm cues）来判断其被捕食的风险，尽管并非所有物种都会受到影响。在此，我们探讨了以下问题：捕食者的化学介导饮食信息能否用于将新捕食者标记为威胁；其有效性是否会因栖息地退化而改变；以及不受栖息地退化相关化学变化影响的猎物物种的信号能否用于缓解该问题。实验室和野外实验表明，当捕食者在流经活硬珊瑚的水体中被喂食安汶雀鲷（Pomacentrus amboinensis）的同种个体时，安汶雀鲷能够通过三种捕食者的消化产物混合物识别单个新捕食者的身份。这使得捕食者身份的标记可大大超越即时捕获和摄食事件的范围。在退化水体中获得相同学习机会的鱼类在野外栖息地斑块中会承担更多风险，且死亡速度更快。安汶雀鲷对近缘异种长崎雀鲷（P. nagasakiensis）的化学警报信号的响应，在活珊瑚和退化水体中均存在，但我们未发现行为学证据表明它们能利用同属物种的饮食气味来标记捕食者。然而，我们确实发现其自然条件下存在适度的生存益处，这表明发生了一定程度的有限学习。有必要进一步研究群落成员间化学信息冗余的作用，因为这可为面临环境变化的个体提供潜在恢复力机制的见解。

描述[数据集中包含的关键信息]：幼年安汶雀鲷（Pomacentrus amboinensis）暴露于来自水箱的水体中，该水箱含有捕食者（新月锦鱼、拟雀鲷、蜥蜴鱼捕食者的组合）的粪便，这些捕食者在流经活的或死亡退化的鹿角杯形珊瑚（Pocillopora damicornis）硬珊瑚的主水箱水体中被喂食安汶雀鲷或同属的长崎雀鲷（P. nagasakiensis）。数据内容为：实验室条件下的安汶雀鲷在斑块礁上的行为和空间利用（实验2）；以及这些鱼随后对野外通过管子和注射器递送的拟雀鲷（喂食鱿鱼以避免饮食信号）气味的响应（实验1）。数据包含一个电子表格，其中有三个工作表：两个实验各自的描述和数据；以及一个短视频。完整方法可在下方相关出版物链接所示的文献中获取。