Reefscapes of Fear: Predation Risk and Reef Hetero-Geneity Interact to Shape Herbivore Foraging Behaviour

Authors

Laura B. Catano, Florida International University
Maria C. Rojas, Florida International University
Ryan J. Malossi, Florida International University
Joseph R. Peters, Portland State University
Michael R. Heathaus, Florida International University,
James W. Fourquren, Florida International University,
Deron E. Burkepile, Florida International University,

Sponsor

This work was supported by a grant from the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program to DEB and B.I. Ruttenberg and facilitated by grant number OCE-1130786 from the National Science Foundation to DEB and R. Vega Thurber.

Published In

Journal of Animal Ecology

Document Type

Citation

Publication Date

2016

Abstract

1. Predators can exert strong direct and indirect effects on ecological communities by intimidating their prey. The nature of predation risk effects is often context dependent, but in some ecosystems these contingencies are often overlooked.
2. Risk effects are often not uniform across landscapes or among species. Indeed, they can vary widely across gradients of habitat complexity and with different prey escape tactics. These context dependencies may be especially important for ecosystems such as coral reefs that vary widely in habitat complexity and have species-rich predator and prey communities.
3. With field experiments using predator decoys of the black grouper (Mycteroperca bonaci), we investigated how reef complexity interacts with predation risk to affect the foraging behaviour and herbivory rates of large herbivorous fishes (e.g. parrotfishes and surgeonfishes) across four coral reefs in the Florida Keys (USA). In both high and low complexity areas of the reef, we measured how herbivory changed with increasing distance from the predator decoy to examine how herbivorous fishes reconcile the conflicting demands of avoiding predation vs. foraging within a reefscape context.
4. We show that with increasing risk, herbivorous fishes consumed dramatically less food (ca. 90%) but fed at a faster rate when they did feed (ca. 26%). Furthermore, we show that fishes foraging closest to the predator decoy were 40% smaller than those that foraged at further distances. Thus, smaller individuals showed muted response to predation risk compared to their larger counterparts, potentially due to their decreased risk to predation or lower reproductive value (i.e. the asset protection principle). Habitat heterogeneity mediated risk effects differently for different species of herbivores, with predation risk more strongly suppressing herbivore feeding in more complex areas and for individuals at higher risk of predation.
5. Predators appear to create a reefscape of fear that changes the size structure of herbivores towards smaller individuals, increases individual feeding rates, but suppresses overall amounts of primary producers consumed, potentially altering patterns of herbivory, an ecosystem process critical for healthy coral reefs.

Rights

Copyright (2016) Wiley.

Description

Data available from the Dryad Digital Repository http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.8962f

Locate the Document

https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12440

DOI

10.1111/1365-2656.12440

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/19347

Citation Details

Catano, L. B., Rojas, M. C., Malossi, R. J., Peters, J. R., Heithaus, M. R., Fourqurean, J. W., & Burkepile, D. E. (2016). Reefscapes of fear: predation risk and reef hetero‐geneity interact to shape herbivore foraging behaviour. Journal of Animal Ecology, 85(1), 146-156.