Risky business: how an herbivore navigates spatio-temporal aspects of risk from competitors and predators

Understanding factors that influence animal behavior is central to ecology. Basic principles of animal ecology imply that individuals should seek to maximize survival and reproduction, which means carefully weighing risk against reward. Decisions become increasingly complex and constrained, however, when risk is spatiotemporally variable. We advance a growing body of work in predator-prey behavior by evaluating novel questions where a prey species is confronted with multiple predators and a potential competitor. We tested how fine-scale behavior of female mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) during the reproductive season shifted depending upon spatial and temporal variation in risk from predators and a potential competitor. We expected female deer to avoid areas of high risk when movement activity of predators and a competitor were high. We used GPS data collected from 65 adult female mule deer, 35 adult female elk, 33 adult coyotes, and six adult mountain lions. Counter to our expectations...解析影响动物行为的因素，是生态学研究的核心议题。动物生态学的基本原理表明，生物个体应致力于最大化自身存活与繁殖成功率，这意味着需审慎权衡风险与收益。然而，当风险呈现时空异质性时，决策过程会愈发复杂且受限。本研究针对猎物物种同时面临多种捕食者与潜在竞争者的全新问题展开探讨，为捕食者-猎物行为学领域日益丰富的研究成果添砖加瓦。我们针对繁殖季雌性骡鹿（Odocoileus hemionus）的精细尺度行为，探究其如何随捕食者与潜在竞争者带来的风险时空变化而改变。我们曾假设，当捕食者与竞争者的移动活跃度较高时，雌性骡鹿会规避高风险区域。本研究使用了65头成年雌性骡鹿、35头成年雌性麋鹿、33头成年郊狼以及6头成年美洲狮的GPS定位数据。与我们的预期相悖的是……