Nest predation risk generally increases nearer forest-field edges in agricultural landscapes. However, few studies test whether differences in edge contrast (i.e. hard versus soft edges based on vegetation structure and height) affect edge-related predation patterns and if such patterns are related to changes in nest conspicuousness between incubation and nestling feeding. Using data on 923 nes...

Urban domestic cat (Felis catus) populations can attain exceedingly high densities and are not limited by natural prey availability. This has generated concerns that they may negatively affect prey populations, leading to calls for management. We enlisted cat-owners to record prey returned home to estimate patterns of predation by free-roaming pets in different localities within the town of Rea...

Nest predation is an important practical challenge for the conservation of egglaying reptiles, with the potential to reduce hatchling recruitment and slow the recovery of threatened populations. Accurately forecasting where and when predation will occur has the potential to optimize predation management. Survival analysis, a set of statistical techniques recently popularized in studies of avian...

Trophic cascades are regarded as important signals for top-down control of food web dynamics. Although there is clear evidence supporting the existence of trophic cascades, the mechanisms driving this important dynamic are less clear. Trophic cascades could arise through direct population-level effects, in which predators prey on herbivores, thereby decreasing the abundance of herbivores that i...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS The Janzen-Connell model predicts that common species suffer high seed predation from specialized natural enemies as a function of distance from parent trees, and consequently as a function of conspecific density, whereas the predator satiation hypothesis predicts that seed attack is reduced due to predator satiation at high seed densities. Pre-dispersal predation by insects...

Previously it has been found that an important risk buffering strategy in the Saami reindeer husbandry in Norway is the accumulation of large herds of reindeer as this increases long-term household viability. Nevertheless, few studies have investigated how official policies, such as economic compensation for livestock losses, can influence pastoral strategies. This study investigated the effect...

Predation risk is often associated with group formation in prey, but recent advances in methods for analysing the social structure of animal societies make it possible to quantify the effects of risk on the complex dynamics of spatial and temporal organisation. In this paper we use social network analysis to investigate the impact of variation in predation risk on the social structure of guppy ...

The "dangerous niche" hypothesis posits that neophobia functions to reduce the cost of habitat use among animals exposed to unknown risks. For example, more dangerous foraging or higher competition may lead to increased spatial neophobia. Likewise, elevated ambient predation threats have been shown to induce phenotypically plastic neophobic predator avoidance. In both cases, neophobia is argued...

Vocally signaling a predator’s presence through alarm calls creates public information regarding risk in the environment. If having this information confers an advantage, eavesdropping behavior, the use of information in signals by individuals other than the primary target, is expected to evolve. Thus, eavesdropping for information on predation risk to avoid predators may be common. We describe...

1. Latitudinal variation in clutch sizes of birds is a well described, but poorly understood pattern. Many hypotheses have been proposed, but few have been experimentally tested, and none have been universally accepted by researchers. 2. The nest size hypothesis posits that higher nest predation in the tropics favours selection for smaller nests and thereby constrains clutch size by shrinking a...