Examining predation risk across generations and habitat

Abstract

Phenotypic plasticity can be a strong driver of individual performance in heterogeneous environments and therefore has cascading effects on all levels of ecological organization. In response to predation risk, prey frequently display a variety of plastic responses that reduce their risk of being consumed, often at the expense of their fitness and performance. For example, prey may retreat into refuge habitats that provide increased safety, but incur foraging and growth consequences as a result, though these effects can be context dependent and are likely modified by habitat characteristics such as refuge quality. It is now widely recognized that nonconsumptive predator effects can have substantial impacts on predator/prey interactions and community and ecosystem dynamics. There is growing evidence, however, that the response of prey to predation risk can also be shaped by their direct and indirect past experiences with risk through parental and embryonic effects. Parental and embryonic experience with predation risk may prime organisms for the risk conditions that they are likely to face, and thus have impacts on offspring behavior and performance throughout life history. Despite the potential ecological implications of the parental and embryonic effects of predation risk, their role in shaping predator/prey dynamics remains unexplored in most natural systems.