Role of predator experience in influencing prey behaviour and survival - dataset

Dataset for the research paper:Lönnstedt OM, McCormick MI, Meekan MG, Ferrari MCO, Chivers DP (2012) Learn and live: the role of predator experience in influencing prey behaviour and survival. Proceedings of the Royal Society London B 279:2091-2098.Data consists of 3 worksheets: Key, Raw data and Graphs.Abstract [Related Publication]: Determining how prey learn the identity of predators and match their vigilance with current levels of threat is central to understanding the dynamics of predator–prey systems and the determinants of fitness. Our study explores how feeding history influences the relative importance of olfactory and visual sensory modes of learning, and how the experience gained through these sensory modes influences behaviour and survival in the field for a juvenile coral reef damselfish. We collected young fish immediately prior to their settlement to benthic habitats. In the laboratory, these predator-naïve fish were exposed to a high- or low-food ration and then conditioned to recognize the olfactory cues (odours) and/or visual cues from two common benthic predators. Fish were then allowed to settle on reefs in the field, and their behaviour and survival over 70 h were recorded. Feeding history strongly influenced their willingness to take risks in the natural environment. Conditioning in the laboratory with visual, olfactory or both cues from predators led fish in the field to display risk-averse behaviour compared with fish conditioned with sea water alone. Well-fed fish that were conditioned with visual, chemical or a combination of predator cues survived eight times better over the first 48 h on reefs than those with no experience of benthic predator cues. This experiment highlights the importance of a flexible and rapid mechanism of learning the identity of predators for survival of young fish during the critical life-history transition between pelagic and benthic habitats.The full methodology is available in the publication shown in the Related Publications link below.

本数据集对应研究论文：Lönnstedt OM、McCormick MI、Meekan MG、Ferrari MCO、Chivers DP（2012）《Learn and live: the role of predator experience in influencing prey behaviour and survival》，发表于《Proceedings of the Royal Society London B》279卷，页码范围2091-2098。本数据集包含3个工作表：键值表（Key）、原始数据表（Raw data）与图表数据表（Graphs）。【关联出版物摘要】明确猎物如何识别捕食者身份，并依据当前威胁水平调整警戒程度，是理解捕食者-猎物系统（predator–prey systems）动态与适合度（fitness）决定因素的核心议题。本研究以幼体珊瑚礁雀鲷（juvenile coral reef damselfish）为研究对象，探究取食历史如何影响嗅觉感知模式（olfactory sensory mode）与视觉感知模式（visual sensory mode）在学习过程中的相对重要性，以及通过这两种感知模式获得的经验如何影响野外个体的行为与存活率。研究人员在幼体鱼定居至底栖生境（benthic habitats）前即刻采集样本。实验室内，先令这些未接触过捕食者的个体（predator-naïve）接受高或低食物投喂量（food ration）处理，随后使其暴露于两种常见底栖捕食者（benthic predators）的嗅觉线索（olfactory cues，odours）与/或视觉线索（visual cues）中完成条件反射训练。随后将这些鱼投放至野外礁区，记录其70小时内的行为与存活率。结果显示，取食历史显著影响了自然环境中个体的冒险意愿。与仅经海水处理的对照组相比，经实验室捕食者视觉、嗅觉或双线索条件训练的个体，在野外表现出更为显著的避险行为（risk-averse behaviour）。投喂充足且经捕食者视觉、化学或复合线索训练的个体，在礁区定居最初48小时内的存活率是未接触底栖捕食者线索个体的8倍。本实验凸显了灵活且快速的捕食者身份识别学习机制，对于幼体鱼在洄游上层生境（pelagic habitats）向底栖息境转换这一关键生活史转换阶段的存活具有重要意义。完整实验方法可通过下述关联出版物链接获取。