Does the risk of predation influence ungulate foraging behavior?
Choate, David*,1, 2, Belovsky, Gary1, Wolfe, Michael2, 1 University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN2 Utah State University, Logan, UT ABSTRACT- Ecologists have long debated whether predators (“top-down”) or nutrients/food (“bottom-up”) limit prey populations. Evidence supporting the importance of predation is frequently based on the number of prey killed by predators – a direct effect. By examining only this direct effect many predation studies fail to consider behavioral changes arising from the risk of predation that subsequently influence other prey or prey resources – indirect effects. Furthermore, these behavioral indirect effects can be more important than the direct effect of predator-caused mortality, influencing both top-down and bottom-up processes. In this study we focus on the behavioral mechanisms through which indirect effects arise, by comparing the behavior and population dynamics of ungulate prey species (whitetail deer, Odocoileus virginianus; mule deer, O. hemionus; an
