Food-safety trade-offs drive dynamic behavioral antipredator responses among snowshoe hares

Prey adopt various antipredator responses to minimize the risk of predation; the fitness costs of antipredator responses can have emergent effects on the population dynamics of prey species. While the trade-off between food acquisition and predation avoidance has long been recognized in predicting antipredator responses, less attention has examined how the dynamics of the food-safety trade-off are driven by temporal variation in multiple risk factors under changing seasonal conditions. Here, we monitored foraging and vigilance behavior of a central prey species, snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus), at fine temporal scales over the winter with various types of predation risk, while also experimentally manipulating predation risk by attracting predators to foraging patches. Hares increased foraging and decreased vigilance over the winter, but hares under chronic risk decreased their antipredator efforts to a lesser degree, indicating that those individuals prioritized risk avoidance over fo..., Snowshoe hare foraging (by accelerometer collars) and vigilance data (by trail cameras) and predator detection data (by trail cameras) were collected in the Chequamegon National Forest Medford District (45.291° N, 90.517° W) in Wisconsin, USA, in winter 2022 and 2023. We obtained meteorological data including wind speed, cloud coverage and air temperature recorded every 20 minutes as a part of the Automated Surface Observing Systems (ASOS) at the nearest available weather station to the study area (located ~ 30 km away). Daily snow depth data were obtained from the nearest available weather station to the study area (located ~ 25 km away)., , # Data from: **Food-safety trade-offs drive dynamic behavioral antipredator responses among snowshoe hares** [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.dv41ns27d](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.dv41ns27d) ## Description of the data and file structure Data were collected in the Chequamegon National Forest Medford District (45.291° N, 90.517° W) in Wisconsin, USA, in winter 2022 and 2023. This dataset consists of 4 data files (two predator detection data files, snowshoe hare foraging data file and snowshoe hare vigilance data file) and 1 R code, which are listed below with descriptions of the individual data files and variables in them. ### Files and variables #### File: Hare\_Night\_Vigilance\_JAE.csv **Description:** Hare night vigilance data ##### Variables “ID” = feeder ID, “patch” = patch ID, “trt” = treatment type of patch, “datetime” = date and time of detection (in CST), “date” = date, “sunrise” = sunrise time, “sunset” = sunset time, “dawn” = dawn time\", “dusk” = dusk time, “tod” = t...猎物会演化出多种反捕食策略以降低被捕食风险；反捕食行为的适合度代价可对猎物种群动态产生级联效应。尽管学界早已认识到食物获取与避食捕食之间的权衡可用于预测反捕食行为，但针对季节性变化条件下，多重风险因子的时间变异如何驱动食-安权衡动态的研究仍较为匮乏。本研究以关键猎物种群雪兔（*Lepus americanus*）为研究对象，在冬季以精细时间尺度监测其在不同捕食风险条件下的觅食与警戒行为，并通过在觅食斑块吸引捕食者的方式对捕食风险进行实验操控。研究发现，雪兔在冬季会提升觅食强度并降低警戒行为，但处于长期捕食风险下的个体其反捕食行为强度的下降幅度更小，表明此类个体更倾向于将风险规避置于...（原文截断） 本研究于2022至2023年冬季，在美国威斯康星州切塔梅贡国家森林梅德福管辖区（45.291° N，90.517° W）采集了雪兔觅食行为数据（通过加速度计项圈获取）、警戒行为数据（通过红外触发相机获取）以及捕食者检测数据（通过红外触发相机获取）。研究区约30公里外的最近气象站通过自动地面观测系统（Automated Surface Observing Systems, ASOS）每20分钟记录一次风速、云量与气温，本研究获取了该类气象数据；研究区约25公里外的最近气象站则提供了每日积雪深度数据。 # 数据来源：**《食-安权衡驱动雪兔的动态行为性反捕食响应》** [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.dv41ns27d](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.dv41ns27d) ## 数据与文件结构说明 本数据集采集自美国威斯康星州切塔梅贡国家森林梅德福管辖区（45.291° N，90.517° W）的2022至2023年冬季野外实验。数据集包含4份数据文件（2份捕食者检测数据文件、1份雪兔觅食数据文件与1份雪兔警戒行为数据文件）以及1份R代码脚本，下文将逐一列出各文件并对其中的变量进行说明。 ### 文件与变量 #### 文件：Hare_Night_Vigilance_JAE.csv **说明：** 雪兔夜间警戒行为数据 ##### 变量 “ID” = 投喂器编号，“patch” = 斑块编号，“trt” = 斑块处理类型，“datetime” = 检测日期与时间（采用中部标准时间CST），“date” = 日期，“sunrise” = 日出时刻，“sunset” = 日落时刻，“dawn” = 黎明时刻，“dusk” = 黄昏时刻，“tod” = 时段（原文截断）