Predator–prey interactions, flight initiation distance and brain size

@article{Mller2014PredatorpreyIF,
  title={Predator–prey interactions, flight initiation distance and brain size},
  author={Anders Pape M{\o}ller and Johannes Erritz{\o}e},
  journal={Journal of Evolutionary Biology},
  year={2014},
  volume={27}
}
Prey avoid being eaten by assessing the risk posed by approaching predators and responding accordingly. Such an assessment may result in prey–predator communication and signalling, which entail further monitoring of the predator by prey. An early antipredator response may provide potential prey with a selective advantage, although this benefit comes at the cost of disturbance in terms of lost foraging opportunities and increased energy expenditure. Therefore, it may pay prey to assess… 
View on Wiley
birdresearch.dk
50 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
1
Background Citations
19
Methods Citations
2
Results Citations
3

50 Citations

Brain size as a driver of avian escape strategy
TLDR
Brain size, and the cognitive functions associated with it, constitute a general framework for explaining the effects of body size, habitat structure and sociality identified as determinants of avian escape strategy.
Prey reduce risk-taking and abundance in the proximity of predators
TLDR
Flight initiation distance (FID) of prey, estimated as the distance at which birds took flight when approached by a human, increased by 50% in the presence of hawk nests, providing evidence of adjustment of anti-predator behavior to prevailing risks of predation.
Monitoring by prey that does not reveal awareness by turning toward approaching predators
TLDR
The findings demonstrate that monitoring occurs in zebra-tailed lizards, suggest that monitoring is so important that lizards risk being detected by moving, and suggest a possible method for studying effects of alert distance in prey that do not perform alerting behaviors when approached in full view.
Predation risk in relation to brain size in alternative prey of pygmy owls varies depending on the abundance of main prey
TLDR
In two autumns, individuals with large brains were captured later compared to individuals with small brains, consistent with the hypothesis that such individuals survived for longer as predation risk imposed by pygmy owls on small birds in boreal forests varies depending on the abundance of the main prey (voles).
Direction of approach by predators and flight initiation distance of urban and rural populations of birds
TLDR
Susceptibility to predation by sparrowhawk depended on differences in FID between direct and tangential approaches, suggesting that birds were able to reduce the risk of predation in rural habitats where sparrowhawks are most common.
The value of a mouthful: Flight initiation distance as an opportunity cost
TLDR
It is suggested that individuals of different species adjust their FID to the probability of adult survival and also that differences in visual acuity among species as reflected by eye size linked to differences in food mobility affect the opportunity cost of risk taking.
Exposure to predators does not lead to the evolution of larger brains in experimental populations of threespine stickleback
TLDR
Direct experimental evidence is provided that predators can indeed drive the evolution of brain size–‐but not in the fashion commonly expected and that the tools of experimental evolution can be used to the study the Evolution of the vertebrate brain.
Towards an integrated view of escape decisions in birds: relation between flight initiation distance and distance fled
Brain size affects the behavioural response to predators in female guppies (Poecilia reticulata)
TLDR
It is concluded that differences in brain size affect the female predator response, and the general idea that predation pressure is likely to be important for the evolution of brain size in prey species is provided.
Annual variation in predation risk is related to the direction of selection for brain size in the wild
TLDR
This work determined how female relative head volume relates to survival, and characterized the seasonal timing of predation, and suggested that relatively large-headed females outsurvived smaller-heads females during dangerous years, whereas the opposite was true in safer years.
...
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 85 REFERENCES
Risk‐taking and the evolution of mechanisms for rapid escape from predators
TLDR
Evidence is found that species with long flight distances for their body size had low levels of haematocrit and large wing areas and aspect ratios, which are consistent with the evolution of risk‐taking behaviour being underpinned by physiological and morphological mechanisms that facilitate escape from predators.
When and how do predator starting distances affect flight initiation distances
The distance separating predator and prey when the predator begins to approach, starting distance, was recently shown to affect flight initiation distance in many bird species, raising questions…
Chimpanzee and felid diet composition is influenced by prey brain size
TLDR
It is proposed that large-brained prey are likely to be more effective at evading predators because they can effectively alter their behavioural responses to specific predator encounters.
Flight Distance and Eye Size in Birds
TLDR
In a comparative analysis of 97 bird species, it is found that species that fled at longer distances from an approaching potential predator indeed had relatively large eyes, and that eye size may act as a constraint on optimal anti-predator behavior, if the predator community changes as a consequence of introductions or invasions.
Flight distance and population trends in European breeding birds
TLDR
It is suggested that standardized measures of flight distance provide reliable information about the population consequences of risk-taking behavior by individuals and the susceptibility of different species to increased levels of disturbance.
Flight distance and blood parasites in birds
TLDR
It is suggested that standardized measures of flight distance provide reliable information about risk taking by individuals, with important consequences for life history, parasitism, and risk of predation.
Strong Artifactual Effect of Starting Distance on Flight Initiation Distance in the Actively Foraging Lizard Aspidoscelis exsanguis
TLDR
Although FID and SD are unrelated in A. exsanguis, SD and the related alert distance can provide valuable insights into risk assessment in other taxa having escape movements distinct from other movements.
Between individual variation in risk-taking behavior and its life history consequences
TLDR
The correlations between interspecific variance in risk-taking behavior and habitat selection, breeding range and population size, dispersal, and life history are investigated to imply that more different habitats could be exploited, resulting in larger local and global population sizes and larger ranges.
Coevolving avian eye size and brain size in relation to prey capture and nocturnality
TLDR
The findings suggest that relative eye size and brain size have coevolved in birds in response to nocturnal activity and, at least partly, to capture of mobile prey.
Flight-initiation distance in birds is dependent on intruder starting distance
TLDR
For 64 of 68 species of Australian birds, a significant positive relationship between starting distance and FID is found, demonstrating that species generally assess risk dynamically and flush at a greater distance as starting distances increase.
...
...