Multiple scales of fear: Foraging behavior of white-naped jays in semiarid landscapes

Animals must constantly balance the need to find resources with the risk of predation. Not only avoiding direct encounters with predators but also assessing the overall risk of their environment using cues, social information, or habitat traits at multiple spatial and temporal scales. Although such a multiscale understanding of the landscape of fear has been recognized, few studies have simultaneously measured how habitat traits at different scales affect risk perception. We used a set of field-based giving-up density experiments to study risk perception of white-naped jays across 20 foraging patches in two semi-arid thorn forests in northeastern Brazil. We recorded data from 23 groups of jays, ranging from 2 to 15 individuals per group. Foraging jays were exposed to a simulated predator (rubber snake), and patches varied in local and landscape-scale complexity. Jays consumed less food and increased vigilance in the presence of a predator, with this effect amplified in more complex patches with dense canopy cover. Vigilance was directly influenced by canopy cover and forest type (managed vs. regenerated). These findings underscore the dependency of risk perception on habitat complexity across various scales, indicating that simplifying habitats may create a less fearful environment, thereby increasing prey vulnerability by diminishing antipredator behaviours.