'Odours of mass deception' - Understanding and manipulating the foraging behaviour of alien predators using chemical camouflage
Alien predators pose a pervasive threat to native species globally, yet our understanding of the behaviours that allow them to forage so effectively in novel environments is relatively limited. Many alien predators are mammals, relying upon olfaction to acquire information on prey location and hone...
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Format: | Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis |
Language: | English |
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UNSW, Sydney
2011
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/51938 https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/162fa91b-0688-4fec-8560-7c5714dcd05a/download https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/15489 |
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ftunswworks:oai:unsworks.library.unsw.edu.au:1959.4/51938 2023-05-15T15:51:10+02:00 'Odours of mass deception' - Understanding and manipulating the foraging behaviour of alien predators using chemical camouflage Price, Catherine 2011 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/51938 https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/162fa91b-0688-4fec-8560-7c5714dcd05a/download https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/15489 EN eng UNSW, Sydney http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/51938 https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/162fa91b-0688-4fec-8560-7c5714dcd05a/download https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/15489 open access https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/ free_to_read CC-BY-NC-ND Camouflage Predator-prey interactions Foraging doctoral thesis http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06 2011 ftunswworks https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/15489 2022-08-09T07:32:54Z Alien predators pose a pervasive threat to native species globally, yet our understanding of the behaviours that allow them to forage so effectively in novel environments is relatively limited. Many alien predators are mammals, relying upon olfaction to acquire information on prey location and hone their foraging effort. Understanding how predators occupy the landscape and use the spatial context of prey odour cues to decide where to devote foraging effort may explain the vulnerability of prey, and offers opportunities to alter odour environments in order to disrupt predator success. In this thesis I examine movement patterns of predators at increasing ecological and spatial scales to gain insight into factors that motivate foraging decisions and influence prey vulnerability. Using a combination of semi-wild and field-based experiments I investigated how spatial variation in olfactory cues (or ‘chemical camouflage’) influences the foraging behaviours of three alien predators. Firstly, using wild house mice, Mus musculus, I found that when prey are camouflaged, predators can show rapid temporal improvements in foraging success, although the degree of improvement depends upon prey quality. Secondly, using stoats, Mustela erminea, I found that increased search costs influenced a predator’s decision to switch to alternate prey, but that its foraging motivation was sensitive to the ease with which alternate prey were found. Thirdly, using free-living populations of black rats, Rattus rattus, I found that egg survival could be significantly enhanced by priming rats with birds nest odour cues. I was able to induce perceptual filters such that rats ignored formerly conspicuous prey odour cues even when eggs were present. Finally, using a multi-predator (red fox, Vulpes vulpes, and dingo, Canis lupus dingo) landscape, I show that unpredictability in predator behaviour is another layer of risk for prey to negotiate. My results indicate temporal variability of predator movements may serve to enhance prey vulnerability. In ... Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis Canis lupus Rattus rattus UNSW Sydney (The University of New South Wales): UNSWorks |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
UNSW Sydney (The University of New South Wales): UNSWorks |
op_collection_id |
ftunswworks |
language |
English |
topic |
Camouflage Predator-prey interactions Foraging |
spellingShingle |
Camouflage Predator-prey interactions Foraging Price, Catherine 'Odours of mass deception' - Understanding and manipulating the foraging behaviour of alien predators using chemical camouflage |
topic_facet |
Camouflage Predator-prey interactions Foraging |
description |
Alien predators pose a pervasive threat to native species globally, yet our understanding of the behaviours that allow them to forage so effectively in novel environments is relatively limited. Many alien predators are mammals, relying upon olfaction to acquire information on prey location and hone their foraging effort. Understanding how predators occupy the landscape and use the spatial context of prey odour cues to decide where to devote foraging effort may explain the vulnerability of prey, and offers opportunities to alter odour environments in order to disrupt predator success. In this thesis I examine movement patterns of predators at increasing ecological and spatial scales to gain insight into factors that motivate foraging decisions and influence prey vulnerability. Using a combination of semi-wild and field-based experiments I investigated how spatial variation in olfactory cues (or ‘chemical camouflage’) influences the foraging behaviours of three alien predators. Firstly, using wild house mice, Mus musculus, I found that when prey are camouflaged, predators can show rapid temporal improvements in foraging success, although the degree of improvement depends upon prey quality. Secondly, using stoats, Mustela erminea, I found that increased search costs influenced a predator’s decision to switch to alternate prey, but that its foraging motivation was sensitive to the ease with which alternate prey were found. Thirdly, using free-living populations of black rats, Rattus rattus, I found that egg survival could be significantly enhanced by priming rats with birds nest odour cues. I was able to induce perceptual filters such that rats ignored formerly conspicuous prey odour cues even when eggs were present. Finally, using a multi-predator (red fox, Vulpes vulpes, and dingo, Canis lupus dingo) landscape, I show that unpredictability in predator behaviour is another layer of risk for prey to negotiate. My results indicate temporal variability of predator movements may serve to enhance prey vulnerability. In ... |
format |
Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis |
author |
Price, Catherine |
author_facet |
Price, Catherine |
author_sort |
Price, Catherine |
title |
'Odours of mass deception' - Understanding and manipulating the foraging behaviour of alien predators using chemical camouflage |
title_short |
'Odours of mass deception' - Understanding and manipulating the foraging behaviour of alien predators using chemical camouflage |
title_full |
'Odours of mass deception' - Understanding and manipulating the foraging behaviour of alien predators using chemical camouflage |
title_fullStr |
'Odours of mass deception' - Understanding and manipulating the foraging behaviour of alien predators using chemical camouflage |
title_full_unstemmed |
'Odours of mass deception' - Understanding and manipulating the foraging behaviour of alien predators using chemical camouflage |
title_sort |
'odours of mass deception' - understanding and manipulating the foraging behaviour of alien predators using chemical camouflage |
publisher |
UNSW, Sydney |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/51938 https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/162fa91b-0688-4fec-8560-7c5714dcd05a/download https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/15489 |
genre |
Canis lupus Rattus rattus |
genre_facet |
Canis lupus Rattus rattus |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/51938 https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/162fa91b-0688-4fec-8560-7c5714dcd05a/download https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/15489 |
op_rights |
open access https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/ free_to_read |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY-NC-ND |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/15489 |
_version_ |
1766386220360794112 |