Spider Fear Generalization Data and Code

Organisms cope with numerous biotic and abiotic threats. Behavioral responses to these potential sources of mortality impact individual fitness and can affect population, community and ecosystem outcomes. Although animals face a diversity of threats, most studies on behavioral responses to danger have focused on responses to either predators or humans. If behavioral responses to different threats are correlated, a phenomenon referred to as fear generalization, this could connect disparate sources of mortality otherwise treated as separate. Despite its potential significance, no studies to date have examined fear generalization in an ecological context. Here, we first document consistent individual differences in the behavioral responses of wolf spiders (Schizocosa maxima) to cues associated with predation, fire, and a chemical stressor. We then document among-individual correlations in behavioral responses to these different threats; i.e., fear generalization. This novel result carries important implications for the ecological consequences of animal behavior in the Anthropocene.