Predation risk perception, food density and conspecific cues shape foraging decisions in a tropical lizard

When foraging, animals can maximize their fitness if they are able to tailor their foraging decisions to current environmental conditions. When making foraging decisions, individuals need to assess the benefits of foraging while accounting for the potential risks of being captured by a predator. However, whether and how different factors interact to shape these decisions is not yet well understood, especially in individual foragers. Here we present a standardized set of manipulative field experiments in the form of foraging assays in the tropical lizard Anolis cristatellus in Puerto Rico. We presented male lizards with foraging opportunities to test how the presence of conspecifics, predation-risk perception, the abundance of food, and interactions among these factors determines the outcome of foraging decisions. In Experiment 1, anoles foraged faster when food was scarce and other conspecifics were present near the feeding tray, while they took longer to feed when food was abundant and...

动物在觅食过程中，若能结合当前环境条件调整觅食决策，即可最大化自身适合度。个体在开展觅食决策时，需权衡被捕食者捕获的潜在风险，同时评估觅食所能获得的收益。然而，不同因素如何交互作用以塑造此类决策，目前尚未得到充分阐明，针对单个觅食个体的相关研究尤为匮乏。在此，我们以波多黎各的热带安乐蜥（Anolis cristatellus）为研究对象，搭建了一套标准化的操控性野外实验体系，实验采用觅食测定实验（foraging assays）的形式。我们为雄性安乐蜥提供觅食机会，旨在探究同种个体存在与否、捕食风险感知水平、食物丰度，以及上述因素间的交互作用如何决定觅食决策的最终结果。在实验1中，当食物匮乏且喂食托盘附近存在其他同种个体时，安乐蜥的觅食速度更快；而当食物充足且……时，其进食耗时则更长。