Too risky to settle: avian community structure changes in response to perceived predation risk on adults and offspring
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
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Abstract
Predation risk is widely hypothesized as an important force structuring communities, but this potential force is rarely tested experimentally, particularly in terrestrial vertebrate communities. How animals respond to predation risk is generally considered predictable from species life-history and natural-history traits, but rigorous tests of these predictions remain scarce. We report on a large-scale playback experiment with a forest bird community that addresses two questions: (i) does perceived predation risk shape the richness and composition of a breeding bird community? And (ii) can species life-history and natural-history traits predict prey community responses to different types of predation risk? On 9 ha plots, we manipulated cues of three avian predators that preferentially prey on either adult birds or offspring, or both, throughout the breeding season. We found that increased perception of predation risk led to generally negative responses in the abundance, occurrence and/or detection probability of most prey species, which in turn reduced the species richness and shifted the composition of the breeding bird community. Species-level responses were largely predicted from the key natural-history trait of body size, but we did not find support for the life-history theory prediction of the relationship between species' slow/fast life-history strategy and their response to predation risk.
Study Area
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Too risky to settle: avian community structure changes in response to perceived predation risk on adults and offspring |
| Series title | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
| DOI | 10.1098/rspb.2013.0762 |
| Volume | 280 |
| Issue | 1764 |
| Year Published | 2013 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Royal Society |
| Contributing office(s) | Southeast Ecological Science Center |
| Description | 8 p. |
| Larger Work Type | Article |
| Larger Work Subtype | Journal Article |
| Larger Work Title | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
| Time Range Start | 2010-02-01 |
| Time Range End | 2010-08-31 |
| Country | United States |
| State | Florida |
| Other Geospatial | Ordway-swisher Biological Station |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |