Visual cues of predation risk outweigh acoustic cues: a field experiment in black-capped chickadees.

ABSTRACT: Foragers rely on various cues to assess predation risk. Information theory predicts that high certainty cues should be valued more than low certainty cues. We measured the latency of black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) to resume feeding during winter in response to cues that conferred different degrees of certainty about current predation risk: a high certainty visual cue (predator mount) and a lower certainty acoustic cue (conspecific mobbing calls), presented either alone or in combination. As predicted, chickadees took longer to resume feeding after the visual than the acoustic cue, and this effect was greatest under conditions of high starvation risk (i.e. low temperatures). Presenting both cues together produced the same foraging delay as the visual cue alone under l

SUBMITTER: Arteaga-Torres JD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7657859 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature