Food availability and long-term predation risk interactively affect antipredator response

Food availability and temporal variation in predation risk are both important determinants of the magnitude of antipredator responses, but their effects have rarely been examined simultaneously, particularly in wild prey. Here, we determine how food availability and long-term predation risk affect antipredator responses to acute predation risk by monitoring the foraging response of free-ranging snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus) to an encounter with a Canada lynx Lynx canadensis) in Yukon, Canada, over 4 winters (from 2015-2016 to 2018-2019). We examined how this response was influenced by natural variation in long-term predation risk (two-month mortality rate of hares) while providing some individuals with supplemental food. On average, snowshoe hares reduced foraging time up to 10 hours after coming into close proximity (≤ 75 m) with lynx, and reduced foraging time an average of 15.28 ± 7.08 minutes per lynx encounter. Hares tended to respond more strongly when the distance to lynx was...