1. W ATCH OUT! F LIGHT B EHAVIOR OF M ALLARDS ( A NAS PLATYRHYNCHOS ) Janina Brakel Javier D í az Á lvarez Behavioral Ecology Miguel Herrero López Yuanheng Li Dorothee Blattner
2. Behavioral Ecology Most animals have predators. Flight is one way to avoid getting caught. Question: When to start to flee? How to move away? T HEORETICAL B ACKGROUND Depends on risk level and energy budget
3. Behavioral Ecology Assessment of predatory risk (Risk is the probability that a chosen action will lead to a loss.) T HEORETICAL B ACKGROUND Distance to the refuge (shown for squirrels by Thorson et al. 1998) Predator itself (visual) Noise of predator (auditory) Smell of predator (olfactory) Examples Crypticity Distance to the predator Definition Escaping substrate Speed of approaching predator cue does not derive from the predator but influences the likelihood of getting caught by the predator Cue deriving from the predator Indirect cues Direct cues
4. Behavioral Ecology Flight initiation distance (FID) Def.: At the flight initiation distance animals move away from approaching threats (Blumstein, 2003) T HEORETICAL B ACKGROUND (from Blumstein, 2003) costs of remaining cost of flight
5. Behavioral Ecology Economic model of flight distance T HEORETICAL B ACKGROUND Cost of fleeing (C) and remaining (B) Distance of predator (from Ydenberg and Dill, 1886) high quality patch high costs of leaving low quality patch low costs of leaving
6. Behavioral Ecology How to escape: flying or running? Flying: most expensive mode of movement among vertebrates Assumption: In order to save energy running away should be preferred T HEORETICAL B ACKGROUND
7. Behavioral Ecology Distance to refuge Patch quality Feeding/ not feeding R ESEARCH Q UESTION H (1): Flight-initiation distance is shorter in feeding mallards FID
8. Behavioral Ecology Distance to refuge Speed of predator approach distance of predator Patch quality Feeding/ not feeding R ESEARCH Q UESTION H (1): Flight-initiation distance is shorter in feeding mallards H (2): Flight-initiation distance increases with increasing speed of approach FID
9. Behavioral Ecology Distance to refuge Speed of predator approach distance of predator Patch quality Feeding/ not feeding R ESEARCH Q UESTION H (1): Flight-initiation distance is shorter in feeding mallards H (2): Flight-initiation distance increases with increasing speed of approach H (3): With increasing speed of approach mallards tend to fly away instead of walking away. FID
10. Behavioral Ecology Blumstein DT (2003): Flight-Initiation Distance in Birds Is Dependent on Intruder Starting Distance. J Wildl Manage 67: 852-857 Thorson JM, Morgan RA, Brown JS, Norman JE (1998): Direct and indirect cues of predatory risk and patch use by fox squirrels and thirteen-lined ground squirrels. Behav Ecol 9: 151-157 Ydenberg RC and Dill LM (1886): The Economics of Fleeing from Predators. Adv Study Behav 16: 229-249 Pictures: http://www.conservationfund.org/gozero/louisiana_lakeophelia_grandcote (05.05.2011) http://www.jrcompton.com/photos/The_Birds/J/Dec-09.html (05.05.2011) https://www.math.duke.edu/education/prep02/Word2HTML/MathType%20export/Predator-prey.htm (05.05.2011) http://pixdaus.com/single.php?id=113964 (05.05.2011) http://barbaramartin.blogspot.com/2009/01/my-town-monday-marie-curtis-park.html (06.05.2011) http://www.photochart.com/photo_6266_Female%20Mallard.html (06.05.2011) L ITERATURE
