Ecology of fear and its effect on seed dispersal by a neotropical rodent by Dumas Gálvez and Marisol Hernández

Predators exert negative effects on prey, besides the act of killing,
generating behavioral and physiological costs, a concept known as the
ecology of fear. Studies in scatterhoarding rodents in temperate zones
suggests that prey use habitat structure to perceive predation risk. Less
is known about how tropical forest rodents perceive predation risk. Here,
we investigated whether the Central American agouti perceive predation
risk by ocelots through olfactory cues and whether it influences the
foraging behavior for Attalea butyracea seeds, one of its main food
sources. By monitoring tagged seeds, we found that seed dispersal and
pilferage was lower in sites with high density of ocelots, in line with
the predictions of ecology of fear proposing that scared animals eat less.
We also found that pilferage rates in high ocelot density sites seem to be
lower during the rainy - transition period but not during dry season when
food availability is generally low. However, we did not find evidence that
agoutis adjust their cache spacing behavior in response to ocelot density.
In an additional experiment to corroborate that agoutis’ responses were
caused by ocelots’ cues, we found lower dispersal rates for seeds placed
next to samples of urine and feces of ocelots as compared to controls,
during the first seven days. Moreover, agoutis spent less time handling
the seeds with ocelots’ cues. Here, we discuss potential cascading effects
linked to the behavior of agoutis towards predation risk.