Abstract
Prey flight decisions in response to predation risk are increasingly being considered in conservation and management decisions in the terrestrial realm, but are rarely considered in marine systems. This field-based study investigated how the behavioral response of coral reef fish families varied along a gradient of subsistence fishing pressure in Papua New Guinea. Specifically, we examined how fishing pressure was related to pre-flight behavior and flight initiation distance (FID), and whether FID was influenced by body size (centimeters total length), group size (including both con- and hetero-specific individuals), or life-history phase. Fishing pressure was positively associated with higher FID, but only in families that were primarily targeted by spear guns. Among these families, there were variable responses in FID; some families showed increased FID monotonically with fishing pressure, while others showed increased FID only at the highest levels of fishing pressure. Body size was more significant in varying FID at higher levels of fishing pressure. Although family-level differences in pre-flight behavior were reported, such behavior showed low concordance with fishing pressure. FID shows promise as a tool by which compliance and effectiveness of management of reef fisheries can be assessed.
Highlights
Appropriate response to predation risk is one of the most important factors in enhancing fitness and reproductive success among animals [1,2]
This study aims to clarify whether predictions made by antipredator escape theory are reproduced within coral reef fisheries, and ascertain how different factors influencing flight initiation distance (FID) interact as fishing pressure increases
We surveyed three communities with varying levels of fishing pressure (Ungakum - low, Nusa - intermediate, and Mongol - high), and one community (Kavulik) who comply with a no-take fisheries closure (NTA) that has been in place since February 2008 (TM, personal observation)
Summary
Appropriate response to predation risk is one of the most important factors in enhancing fitness and reproductive success among animals [1,2]. The most commonly used metric to assess prey decision making and wariness in the light of predation is flight initiation distance (FID) – the distance to which a predator can approach prey before the prey animal flees [3]. Research using this metric has given rise to an extensive theoretical framework, culminating in the theory of optimal FID, which states that ‘‘a prey animal will flee at the stage of an encounter at which maximal fitness is achieved’’ [2]. In Papua New Guinea, fishes’ body size was found to be non-significant as an explanatory factor for FID [12], contrary to studies elsewhere [15,16], which found that larger sized fishes exhibited greater FID/mean detection distance. In the terrestrial literature, increased group size tends to be accompanied by increased FID [4,18] contrary to data available on fish, where increased group size has generally been found to be associated with lower FID [4,19]
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