Energy-safety trade-offs differ between winter-adapted species of prey to drive distinct activity patterns

Energy acquisition and risk avoidance can drive prey activity, but mechanistic understanding of the process through which prey traits mediate this energy-safety trade-off is lacking. We analyzed daily activity in winter of two winter-adapted prey that differ in antipredator strategies and physiological constraints on activity: snowshoe hares (<i>Lepus americanus</i>) and North American porcupines (<i>Erethizon dorsatum</i>). First, we constructed an energetics-based model to predict daily activity time for each species based on temperature and corresponding mass-dependent thermoregulatory costs. We then examined what factors drove the deviations of observed activity from the model prediction based on energy balance, considering individual variation. Neither hares nor porcupines achieved energy balance when temperatures fell below the thermoneutral zone. Activity deviations of hares from energy balance were explained by environmental factors associated with risk and energetics, with nominal individual variation being exhibited. In contrast, activity deviations of porcupines were independent of the environmental factors, and porcupines exhibited pronounced individual variation in activity. Our findings highlight that antipredator strategies and physiological constraints on activity can mediate the behavioral energy-safety trade-off of prey. Notably, morphological protection and energy reserves facilitate behavioral flexibility by relaxing the energy-safety trade-off, whereas dependence on behavioral predator avoidance limits the behavioral flexibility of prey.