The landscape of fear as an emergent property of heterogeneity: Contrasting patterns of predation risk in grassland ecosystems.

ABSTRACT: The likelihood of encountering a predator influences prey behavior and spatial distribution such that non-consumptive effects can outweigh the influence of direct predation. Prey species are thought to filter information on perceived predator encounter rates in physical landscapes into a landscape of fear defined by spatially explicit heterogeneity in predation risk. The presence of multiple predators using different hunting strategies further complicates navigation through a landscape of fear and potentially exposes prey to greater risk of predation. The juxtaposition of land cover types likely influences overlap in occurrence of different predators, suggesting that attributes of a landscape of fear result from complexity in the physical landscape. Woody encroachment in grasslands furnish

SUBMITTER: Atuo FA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5496548 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature