An alternative theoretical approach to escape decision-making: the role of visual cues

0376030 - ÚBO 2013 RIV US eng J - Článek v odborném periodiku
Javůrková, V. - Šizling, A. L. - Kreisinger, J. - Albrecht, Tomáš
An alternative theoretical approach to escape decision-making: the role of visual cues.
PLoS ONE. Roč. 7, č. 3 (2012), e32522. ISSN 1932-6203. E-ISSN 1932-6203
Grant CEP: GA MŠMT LC06073; GA AV ČR KJB601110803
Výzkumný záměr: CEZ:AV0Z60930519
Klíčová slova: Flight-initiation distance * Risk-assessment * Predator avoidance * Dabbling ducks * Fiddler-crabs * Behavior * Sensitivity * Vigilance * Starlings * Birds
Kód oboru RIV: EG - Zoologie
Impakt faktor: 3.730, rok: 2012

Escape enables prey to avoid an approaching predator. The escape decision-making process has traditionally been interpreted using theoretical models that consider ultimate explanations based on the cost/benefit paradigm. Ultimate approaches, however, suffer from inseparable extra-assumptions due to an inability to accurately parameterize the model’s variables and their interactive relationships. In this study, we propose a mathematical model that uses intensity of predatormediated visual stimuli as a basic cue for the escape response. We consider looming stimuli (i.e. expanding retinal image of the moving predator) as a cue to flight initiation distance (FID; distance at which escape begins) of incubating Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos). We then examine the relationship between FID, vegetation cover and directness of predator trajectory, and fit the resultant model to experimental data. As predicted by the model, vegetation concealment and directness of predator trajectory interact, with FID decreasing with increased concealment during a direct approach toward prey, but not during a tangential approach. Thus, we how that a simple proximate expectation, which involves only visual processing of a moving predator, may explain interactive effects of environmental and predator-induced variables on an escape response. We assume that our proximate approach, which offers a plausible and parsimonious explanation for variation in FID, may serve as an evolutionary background for traditional, ultimate explanations and should be incorporated into interpretation of escape behavior.
Trvalý link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0208539