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 patc..., , # Data from: Multiple scales of fear: Foraging behavior of white-naped jays in semiarid landscapes

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.m37pvmddm](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.m37pvmddm)

## Description of the data and file structure

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 (estimated using images - MIG). Each excel file has the raw data for one set of GUD experiments (2015, 2018 and 2019). Gralhas_gud_21_check includes habitat complexity estimates for each foraging patch, which were obtained in 2015. Missing data represented as NA.

### Files and variables

#### File: DATA-GUD_Beiriz.zip

**Description:** 

Raw excel files – GUD experiments 2...,