Behavioral Responses of Wild Rodents to Owl Calls in an Austral Temperate Forest.

Mᵃ Carmen Hernández,Denise M Jara-Stapfer,André V Rubio,Ana Muñoz,Isabel Barja,Cristian Bonacic

doi:10.3390/ani11020428

Mᵃ Carmen Hernández, Denise M Jara-Stapfer + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11020428

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Abstract

Simple SummaryGrowing human populations are challenging scientists to find effective ways to control and mitigate human–wildlife conflict while preserving biodiversity. It has been reported that predator odor and calls can drive away rodents, but little is known about species-specific responses of prey. For these reasons, we compared the behavioral changes of common rodent species inhabiting the Chilean temperate forest (Abrothrix spp., the long-tailed pygmy rice rat Oligoryzomys longicaudatus and the black rat Rattus rattus) when exposed to two different native predator calls (the austral pygmy owl Glaucidium nana and the rufous-legged owl Strix rufipes) and a control (no predator calls). Our results showed that all rodent species modified their behavior in the presence of predator calls, but the effects were species dependent. These findings point to the need to carefully study target rodent species instead of applying a general control plan for all rodent species.Ecologically based rodent management strategies are arising as a sustainable approach to rodent control, allowing us to preserve biodiversity while safeguarding human economic activities. Despite predator signals being known to generally repel rodents, few field-based studies have compared the behavioral effects of several predators on different prey species, especially in Neotropical ecosystems. Here, we used camera traps to study the behavior of rodent species native to the Chilean temperate forest (Abrothrix spp., long-tailed pygmy rice rat Oligoryzomys longicaudatus) and an introduced rodent (black rat Rattus rattus). Using playbacks of raptor calls, we experimentally exposed rodents to three predation risk treatments: austral pygmy owl calls (Glaucidium nana), rufous-legged owl calls (Strix rufipes) and a control treatment (absence of owl calls). We evaluated the effects of the treatments on the time allocated to three behaviors: feeding time, locomotor activity and vigilance. Moonlight and vegetation cover were also considered in the analyses, as they can modify perceived predation risk. Results showed that predator calls and environmental factors modified prey behavior depending not only on the predator species, but also on the rodent species. Consequently, owl playbacks could be regarded as a promising rodent control tool, knowing that future studies would be critical to deeply understand differences between species in order to select the most effective predator cues.

Highlights

Rodents are the most diverse order of mammals [1], and a small portion of them (~7–10%) are considered agricultural and infrastructural pests [2], as well as important reservoirs of a variety of zoonotic diseases [3,4]
The use of perceived predation risk has been proposed as a management tool for ecologically based rodent management, under The Landscape of Fear (LOF) framework [10,11,12], in which rodent populations could be managed by manipulating their perceived predation risk to deter them from target areas [11]
We found that owl calls modulated Abrothrix spp. feeding behavior (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

Rodents are the most diverse order of mammals [1], and a small portion of them (~7–10%) are considered agricultural and infrastructural pests [2], as well as important reservoirs of a variety of zoonotic diseases [3,4]. Because rodents are prey to several predators (reptiles, birds and mammals), they can perceive risk of predation in response to auditory, visual, and olfactory cues emanating from their predators [6,7,8,9]. The presence of a rodent predator can be simulated by using direct cues, such as carnivore urine and feces or raptor calls [12,13,14], inducing antipredator behaviors, such as modifications to space-use, foraging activity, social behavior and vigilance patterns [13,14,15,16]. Despite chemosensory cues being the most common signals used by small mammals to assess predation risk [17], the importance of auditory cues should not be overlooked, as they can provide valuable information [12]. Several laboratory and field experiments using playbacks of raptor calls successfully triggered antipredator responses in wild rodents [12,18,19,20]

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