Snow imprints showing traces of predator-prey interaction

The ecology of fear is a conceptual framework describing the psychological impact that predator-induced stress experienced by animals has on populations and ecosystems. Within ecology, the impact of predators has been traditionally viewed as limited to the animals that they directly kill, while the ecology of fear advances evidence that predators may have a far more substantial impact on the individuals that they predate, reducing fecundity, survival and population sizes.[1][2] To avoid being killed, animals that are preyed upon will employ anti-predator defenses which aid survival but may carry substantial costs.[1]

History

The concept was coined in the 1999 paper "The Ecology of Fear: Optimal Foraging, Game Theory, and Trophic Interactions",[3] which argued that "a predator [...] depletes a food patch [...] by frightening prey rather than by actually killing prey."[4]

In the 2000s, the ecology of fear gained attention after researchers identified an impact of the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone on the regrowth of aspen and willows because of a substantial reduction in the numbers of elk in the park through killing. Some studies also indicated that the wolves affected the grazing intensity and patterns of the elk because they felt less secure when feeding.[2] Critics have put forward alternative explanations for the regrowth, other than the wolf reintroduction.[2][5]

The consideration of wolves as a charismatic species and the fame of Yellowstone led to widespread media attention of the concept, including a mention in The New York Times and a fold-out illustration of the impact of wolves on Yellowstone in the March 2010 edition of the National Geographic.[5] There has also been a popular YouTube video How Wolves Change Rivers, which has been described as a vast overstatement by some scientists.[2]

A 2010 study found that sharks, like wolves, may have the capacity to create an ecology of fear in the ecosystems which they inhabit.[6] In 2012, a study indicated that the ecology of fear may also be applicable to parasites, with evidence suggesting that animals abandon feeding both because of predator and parasite avoidance.[7]

Some critics of the concept argue that the "cognitive and emotional aspects of avoiding predation remain unknown" and that this is true for "virtually all studies of 'the ecology of fear'".[8]

Analogous research has been applied to host-parasite and host-pathogen interactions based on the ecology of fear.[9][10] This research is alternatively called the "ecology of disgust".[11]

Landscape of fear

The landscape of fear is a model based on the ecology of fear, which asserts that the behaviour of animals that are preyed upon is shaped by psychological maps of their geographical surroundings which accounts for the risk of predation in certain areas.[12][13]

Relationship to post-traumatic stress disorder

A 2011 paper described how exposure to predators as life-threatening psychological stressors is used in animal models of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); these models are also used to emulate the experience of PTSD in humans and the authors suggested a collaboration between ecologists and neuroscientists to study the "neurological effects of predator-induced fear and stress in animals in the wild."[14]

In 2019, a study identified lasting effects on behavior and PTSD-like changes in the brains of wild animals caused by fear-inducing interactions with predators.[15]

Human impact

Studies have found that the fear of humans can have substantial impacts on animal behaviour,[16] including on top predators such as pumas.[17] Humans may also create an ecology of fear by reintroducing predators into areas where they no longer live; the moral philosopher Oscar Horta argues against such reintroductions, asserting that they conflict with the well-being and interests of the animals already living in the environment.[18]

See also

  • Predator-prey dynamics – Equations modelling predator–prey cycles
  • Wild animal suffering – Suffering experienced by animals living outside direct human control

References

  1. 1 2 Zanette, Liana Y.; Clinchy, Michael (2019-05-06). "Ecology of fear". Current Biology. 29 (9): R309–R313. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2019.02.042. ISSN 0960-9822. PMID 31063718. S2CID 145049061.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Robbins, Jim (2017-04-11). "The Fear Factor: How the Peril of Predators Can Transform a Landscape". Yale E360. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
  3. ↑ Clinchy, Michael; Zanette, Liana Y.; Roberts, Devin; Suraci, Justin P.; Buesching, Christina D.; Newman, Chris; Macdonald, David W. (2016-11-01). "Fear of the human "super predator" far exceeds the fear of large carnivores in a model mesocarnivore". Behavioral Ecology. 27 (6): 1826–1832. doi:10.1093/beheco/arw117. ISSN 1045-2249.
  4. ↑ Brown, Joel S.; Laundré, John W.; Gurung, Mahesh (1999). "The Ecology of Fear: Optimal Foraging, Game Theory, and Trophic Interactions". Journal of Mammalogy. 80 (2): 385–399. doi:10.2307/1383287. ISSN 0022-2372. JSTOR 1383287.
  5. 1 2 Ostlind, Emilene; Wade, Dave (2014-01-06). "The ecology of fear: Elk responses to wolves in Yellowstone are not what we thought". Western Confluence. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
  6. ↑ Wirsing, Aaron J; Ripple, William J (August 2011). "A comparison of shark and wolf research reveals similar behavioral responses by prey". Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 9 (6): 335–341. Bibcode:2011FrEE....9..335W. doi:10.1890/090226. ISSN 1540-9295. S2CID 10320877.
  7. ↑ Fritzsche, Alexa; Allan, Brian F. (2012-03-01). "The Ecology of Fear: Host Foraging Behavior Varies with the Spatio-temporal Abundance of a Dominant Ectoparasite". EcoHealth. 9 (1): 70–74. doi:10.1007/s10393-012-0744-z. ISSN 1612-9210. PMID 22311098. S2CID 19569658.
  8. ↑ Creel, Scott; Winnie, John A.; Christianson, David (2009-07-28). "Glucocorticoid stress hormones and the effect of predation risk on elk reproduction". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 106 (30): 12388–12393. Bibcode:2009PNAS..10612388C. doi:10.1073/pnas.0902235106. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 2718336. PMID 19617549.
  9. ↑ Horn, Collin J.; Mierzejewski, Monika K.; Elahi, Maesha E.; Luong, Lien T. (October 2020). "Extending the ecology of fear: Parasite-mediated sexual selection drives host response to parasites". Physiology & Behavior. 224: 113041. doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2020.113041. PMID 32619526. S2CID 220253177.
  10. ↑ Daversa, D. R.; Hechinger, R. F.; Madin, E.; Fenton, A.; Dell, A. I.; Ritchie, E. G.; Rohr, J.; Rudolf, V. H. W.; Lafferty, K. D. (2021-02-24). "Broadening the ecology of fear: non-lethal effects arise from diverse responses to predation and parasitism". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 288 (1945): 20202966. doi:10.1098/rspb.2020.2966. ISSN 0962-8452. PMC 7935051. PMID 33622122.
  11. ↑ Buck, J. C.; Weinstein, S. B.; Young, H. S. (2018-08-01). "Ecological and Evolutionary Consequences of Parasite Avoidance". Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 33 (8): 619–632. doi:10.1016/j.tree.2018.05.001. ISSN 0169-5347. PMID 29807838. S2CID 44133972.
  12. ↑ Laundré, John W.; Hernández, Lucina; Ripple, William J. (2010). "The Landscape of Fear: Ecological Implications of Being Afraid" (PDF). The Open Ecology Journal. 3: 1–7. doi:10.2174/1874213001003030001.
  13. ↑ Yong, Ed (2016-02-23). "Nothing to Fear Except Fear Itself—Also Wolves and Bears". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
  14. ↑ Clinchy, Michael; Schulkin, Jay; Zanette, Liana Y.; Sheriff, Michael J.; McGowan, Patrick O.; Boonstra, Rudy (2011). "The Neurological Ecology of Fear: Insights Neuroscientists and Ecologists Have to Offer one Another". Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. 5: 21. doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2011.00021. ISSN 1662-5153. PMC 3084442. PMID 21629856.
  15. ↑ Zanette, Liana Y.; Hobbs, Emma C.; Witterick, Lauren E.; MacDougall-Shackleton, Scott A.; Clinchy, Michael (2019-08-07). "Predator-induced fear causes PTSD-like changes in the brains and behaviour of wild animals". Scientific Reports. 9 (1): 11474. Bibcode:2019NatSR...911474Z. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-47684-6. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 6685979. PMID 31391473.
  16. ↑ Clinchy, Michael; Zanette, Liana Y.; Roberts, Devin; Suraci, Justin P.; Buesching, Christina D.; Newman, Chris; Macdonald, David W. (2016-11-01). "Fear of the human "super predator" far exceeds the fear of large carnivores in a model mesocarnivore". Behavioral Ecology. 27 (6): 1826–1832. doi:10.1093/beheco/arw117. ISSN 1045-2249.
  17. ↑ Gross, Liza (2017-07-11). "How Fear of Humans Can Ripple Through Food Webs and Reshape Landscapes". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
  18. ↑ Horta, Oscar (2010-01-01). "The Ethics of the Ecology of Fear against the Nonspeciesist Paradigm: A Shift in the Aims of Intervention in Nature". Between the Species. 13 (10). doi:10.15368/bts.2010v13n10.10.

Further reading

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