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Fear and stressing in predator–prey ecology: considering the twin stressors of predators and people on mammals
Predators induce stress in prey and can have beneficial effects in ecosystems, but can also have negative effects on biodiversity if they are overabundant or have been introduced. The growth of human populations is, at the same time, causing degradation of natural habitats and increasing interaction...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
PeerJ Inc.
2020
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7196326/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32391213 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.9104 |
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author | Fardell, Loren L. Pavey, Chris R. Dickman, Christopher R. |
author_facet | Fardell, Loren L. Pavey, Chris R. Dickman, Christopher R. |
author_sort | Fardell, Loren L. |
collection | PubMed |
description | Predators induce stress in prey and can have beneficial effects in ecosystems, but can also have negative effects on biodiversity if they are overabundant or have been introduced. The growth of human populations is, at the same time, causing degradation of natural habitats and increasing interaction rates of humans with wildlife, such that conservation management routinely considers the effects of human disturbance as tantamount to or surpassing those of predators. The need to simultaneously manage both of these threats is particularly acute in urban areas that are, increasingly, being recognized as global hotspots of wildlife activity. Pressures from altered predator–prey interactions and human activity may each initiate fear responses in prey species above those that are triggered by natural stressors in ecosystems. If fear responses are experienced by prey at elevated levels, on top of responses to multiple environmental stressors, chronic stress impacts may occur. Despite common knowledge of the negative effects of stress, however, it is rare that stress management is considered in conservation, except in intensive ex situ situations such as in captive breeding facilities or zoos. We propose that mitigation of stress impacts on wildlife is crucial for preserving biodiversity, especially as the value of habitats within urban areas increases. As such, we highlight the need for future studies to consider fear and stress in predator–prey ecology to preserve both biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, especially in areas where human disturbance occurs. We suggest, in particular, that non-invasive in situ investigations of endocrinology and ethology be partnered in conservation planning with surveys of habitat resources to incorporate and reduce the effects of fear and stress on wildlife. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7196326 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-71963262020-05-08 Fear and stressing in predator–prey ecology: considering the twin stressors of predators and people on mammals Fardell, Loren L. Pavey, Chris R. Dickman, Christopher R. PeerJ Animal Behavior Predators induce stress in prey and can have beneficial effects in ecosystems, but can also have negative effects on biodiversity if they are overabundant or have been introduced. The growth of human populations is, at the same time, causing degradation of natural habitats and increasing interaction rates of humans with wildlife, such that conservation management routinely considers the effects of human disturbance as tantamount to or surpassing those of predators. The need to simultaneously manage both of these threats is particularly acute in urban areas that are, increasingly, being recognized as global hotspots of wildlife activity. Pressures from altered predator–prey interactions and human activity may each initiate fear responses in prey species above those that are triggered by natural stressors in ecosystems. If fear responses are experienced by prey at elevated levels, on top of responses to multiple environmental stressors, chronic stress impacts may occur. Despite common knowledge of the negative effects of stress, however, it is rare that stress management is considered in conservation, except in intensive ex situ situations such as in captive breeding facilities or zoos. We propose that mitigation of stress impacts on wildlife is crucial for preserving biodiversity, especially as the value of habitats within urban areas increases. As such, we highlight the need for future studies to consider fear and stress in predator–prey ecology to preserve both biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, especially in areas where human disturbance occurs. We suggest, in particular, that non-invasive in situ investigations of endocrinology and ethology be partnered in conservation planning with surveys of habitat resources to incorporate and reduce the effects of fear and stress on wildlife. PeerJ Inc. 2020-04-30 /pmc/articles/PMC7196326/ /pubmed/32391213 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.9104 Text en © 2020 Fardell et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited. |
spellingShingle | Animal Behavior Fardell, Loren L. Pavey, Chris R. Dickman, Christopher R. Fear and stressing in predator–prey ecology: considering the twin stressors of predators and people on mammals |
title | Fear and stressing in predator–prey ecology: considering the twin stressors of predators and people on mammals |
title_full | Fear and stressing in predator–prey ecology: considering the twin stressors of predators and people on mammals |
title_fullStr | Fear and stressing in predator–prey ecology: considering the twin stressors of predators and people on mammals |
title_full_unstemmed | Fear and stressing in predator–prey ecology: considering the twin stressors of predators and people on mammals |
title_short | Fear and stressing in predator–prey ecology: considering the twin stressors of predators and people on mammals |
title_sort | fear and stressing in predator–prey ecology: considering the twin stressors of predators and people on mammals |
topic | Animal Behavior |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7196326/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32391213 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.9104 |
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