Behavioral Responses of Wild Rodents to Owl Calls in an Austral Temperate Forest
Ecologically based rodent management strategies are arising as a sustainable approach to rodent control, allowing us to preserve biodiversity while safeguarding human economic activities. Despite predator signals being known to generally repel rodents, few field-based studies have compared the behav...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11020428 |
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ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2076-2615/11/2/428/ 2023-08-20T04:09:25+02:00 Behavioral Responses of Wild Rodents to Owl Calls in an Austral Temperate Forest Mᵃ Carmen Hernández Denise M. Jara-Stapfer Ana Muñoz Cristian Bonacic Isabel Barja André V. Rubio agris 2021-02-07 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11020428 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Wildlife https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani11020428 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Animals; Volume 11; Issue 2; Pages: 428 landscape of fear predation risk predator–prey interactions small mammals Text 2021 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11020428 2023-08-01T01:01:42Z Ecologically based rodent management strategies are arising as a sustainable approach to rodent control, allowing us to preserve biodiversity while safeguarding human economic activities. Despite predator signals being known to generally repel rodents, few field-based studies have compared the behavioral effects of several predators on different prey species, especially in Neotropical ecosystems. Here, we used camera traps to study the behavior of rodent species native to the Chilean temperate forest (Abrothrix spp., long-tailed pygmy rice rat Oligoryzomys longicaudatus) and an introduced rodent (black rat Rattus rattus). Using playbacks of raptor calls, we experimentally exposed rodents to three predation risk treatments: austral pygmy owl calls (Glaucidium nana), rufous-legged owl calls (Strix rufipes) and a control treatment (absence of owl calls). We evaluated the effects of the treatments on the time allocated to three behaviors: feeding time, locomotor activity and vigilance. Moonlight and vegetation cover were also considered in the analyses, as they can modify perceived predation risk. Results showed that predator calls and environmental factors modified prey behavior depending not only on the predator species, but also on the rodent species. Consequently, owl playbacks could be regarded as a promising rodent control tool, knowing that future studies would be critical to deeply understand differences between species in order to select the most effective predator cues. Text Rattus rattus MDPI Open Access Publishing Austral Animals 11 2 428 |
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MDPI Open Access Publishing |
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ftmdpi |
language |
English |
topic |
landscape of fear predation risk predator–prey interactions small mammals |
spellingShingle |
landscape of fear predation risk predator–prey interactions small mammals Mᵃ Carmen Hernández Denise M. Jara-Stapfer Ana Muñoz Cristian Bonacic Isabel Barja André V. Rubio Behavioral Responses of Wild Rodents to Owl Calls in an Austral Temperate Forest |
topic_facet |
landscape of fear predation risk predator–prey interactions small mammals |
description |
Ecologically based rodent management strategies are arising as a sustainable approach to rodent control, allowing us to preserve biodiversity while safeguarding human economic activities. Despite predator signals being known to generally repel rodents, few field-based studies have compared the behavioral effects of several predators on different prey species, especially in Neotropical ecosystems. Here, we used camera traps to study the behavior of rodent species native to the Chilean temperate forest (Abrothrix spp., long-tailed pygmy rice rat Oligoryzomys longicaudatus) and an introduced rodent (black rat Rattus rattus). Using playbacks of raptor calls, we experimentally exposed rodents to three predation risk treatments: austral pygmy owl calls (Glaucidium nana), rufous-legged owl calls (Strix rufipes) and a control treatment (absence of owl calls). We evaluated the effects of the treatments on the time allocated to three behaviors: feeding time, locomotor activity and vigilance. Moonlight and vegetation cover were also considered in the analyses, as they can modify perceived predation risk. Results showed that predator calls and environmental factors modified prey behavior depending not only on the predator species, but also on the rodent species. Consequently, owl playbacks could be regarded as a promising rodent control tool, knowing that future studies would be critical to deeply understand differences between species in order to select the most effective predator cues. |
format |
Text |
author |
Mᵃ Carmen Hernández Denise M. Jara-Stapfer Ana Muñoz Cristian Bonacic Isabel Barja André V. Rubio |
author_facet |
Mᵃ Carmen Hernández Denise M. Jara-Stapfer Ana Muñoz Cristian Bonacic Isabel Barja André V. Rubio |
author_sort |
Mᵃ Carmen Hernández |
title |
Behavioral Responses of Wild Rodents to Owl Calls in an Austral Temperate Forest |
title_short |
Behavioral Responses of Wild Rodents to Owl Calls in an Austral Temperate Forest |
title_full |
Behavioral Responses of Wild Rodents to Owl Calls in an Austral Temperate Forest |
title_fullStr |
Behavioral Responses of Wild Rodents to Owl Calls in an Austral Temperate Forest |
title_full_unstemmed |
Behavioral Responses of Wild Rodents to Owl Calls in an Austral Temperate Forest |
title_sort |
behavioral responses of wild rodents to owl calls in an austral temperate forest |
publisher |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11020428 |
op_coverage |
agris |
geographic |
Austral |
geographic_facet |
Austral |
genre |
Rattus rattus |
genre_facet |
Rattus rattus |
op_source |
Animals; Volume 11; Issue 2; Pages: 428 |
op_relation |
Wildlife https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani11020428 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11020428 |
container_title |
Animals |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
428 |
_version_ |
1774722368397115392 |