Prey responses to foxes are not determined by nativeness

Author:

Wooster Eamonn I. F.1ORCID,Ramp Daniel2ORCID,Lundgren Erick J.34ORCID,Bonsen Gavin T.2,Geisler‐Edge Angelica5,Ben‐Ami Dror6,Carthey Alexandra J. R.7ORCID,Carroll Scott8ORCID,Keynan Oded69ORCID,Olek Yael10,O'Neill Adam11,Shanas Uri1012,Wallach Arian D.13ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Gulbali Institute, School of Agricultural, Environmental and Veterinary Sciences, Charles Sturt University Albury NSW Australia

2. Centre for Compassionate Conservation, TD School, University of Technology Sydney Sydney NSW Australia

3. Department of Biology, Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Aarhus University Aarhus Denmark

4. Department of Biology, Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Aarhus University Aarhus Denmark

5. School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney Sydney NSW Australia

6. Compassionate Conservation Middle East, Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv Israel

7. Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University North Ryde NSW Australia

8. Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of California Davis Davis CA USA

9. Dead Sea and Arava Science Centre, Central Arava Branch Hatzeva Israel

10. Department of Biology and Environment, University of Haifa‐Oranim Kiryat Tivon Israel

11. Dingo for Biodiversity Project Mount Perry QLD Australia

12. Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology, University of Haifa Mount Carmel Haifa Israel

13. School of Biology and Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, Queensland University of Technology Brisbane QLD Australia

Abstract

Introduced predators are thought to be responsible for the decline and extinction of their native prey. The prey naivety hypothesis provides a mechanism for these declines, suggesting that native prey are vulnerable to introduced predators as their coevolutionary history is insufficiently long for antipredator behaviours to fully develop. The prey naivety hypothesis thus predicts that prey will be less responsive to introduced predators than to native predators. Australia's endemic small mammals are thought to be vulnerable to predation by red foxes because they are less responsive to – or naive of – a predator with whom they have only co‐occurred since the 19th century. To test whether nativeness determines antipredator behaviours we compared small mammal behavioural responses to fox scent outside (Australia) and inside the foxes' native range (North America and Israel). We conducted giving‐up density experiments in the deserts of these three regions and evaluated small mammal antipredator responses to fox scent. To place these results in a broader context, we then integrated our results into a global meta‐analysis of studies assessing prey responsiveness to fox scent. All small mammals similarly increased their vigilance in response to fox scent, regardless of their coevolutionary history with foxes. Australian small mammals responded with greater wariness to fox scent, by decreasing time at food patches in response to fox scent more than Israeli and American small mammals did. However, we found no evidence that this behaviour influenced foraging as nut consumption was unaffected. Our meta‐analysis revealed that globally, small mammals respond with similar wariness to fox scent regardless of whether foxes are their native predator. We found no evidence that Australian small mammals respond in a maladaptive manner, compared to the foxes' native prey. Our results suggest that animals can develop antipredator behaviours to introduced predators to the same magnitude as native prey.

Publisher

Wiley

Subject

Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

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