Data from: Hunting-mediated predator facilitation and superadditive mortality in a European ungulate

Predator-prey theory predicts that in the presence of multiple types of predators using a common prey, predator facilitation may result as a consequence of contrasting prey defense mechanisms, where reducing the risk from one predator increases the risk from the other. While predator facilitation is well established in natural predator-prey systems, little attention has been paid to situations where human hunters compete with natural predators for the same prey. Here, we investigate hunting-mediated predator facilitation in a hunter-predator-prey system. We found that hunter avoidance by roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) exposed them to increase predation risk by Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx). Lynx responded by increasing their activity and predation on deer, providing evidence that superadditive hunting mortality may be occurring through predator facilitation. Our results reveal a new pathway through which human hunters, in their role as top predators, may affect species interactions at lower trophic levels and thus drive ecosystem processes.

捕食者-猎物理论（Predator-prey theory）预测：当多种捕食者共享同一猎物且猎物的防御机制存在分化时，可能会出现捕食者促进效应（predator facilitation）——即猎物降低某一类捕食者的捕食风险，反而会提升其面临另一类捕食者的风险。尽管捕食者促进效应在自然捕食者-猎物系统中已得到充分证实，但针对人类猎人与自然捕食者竞争共享猎物的相关场景，学界却鲜有关注。本研究针对猎人-捕食者-猎物系统中由狩猎活动介导的捕食者促进效应展开探究。研究发现，狍（Capreolus capreolus）为规避人类猎人而采取的行为，会使其面临欧亚猞猁（Lynx lynx）的捕食风险升高；欧亚猞猁会通过提升自身活动强度与捕食狍的频次来响应这一变化，该结果为“捕食者促进效应可能引发超加性狩猎死亡率”提供了实证支撑。本研究结果揭示了一条全新的作用路径：作为顶级捕食者的人类猎人，可通过该路径影响低营养级的物种间相互作用，进而驱动生态系统过程。