Predicting how the inducible defences of large mammals to human predation shape spatial food web dynamics

预测大型哺乳动物对人类捕食的诱导防御如何塑造空间食物网动态

• 批准号: EP/Y03614X/1
• 负责人: Robert Montgomery
• 金额: $ 206.67万
• 依托单位: University of Oxford
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2024 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FY03614X%2F1
• 关键词: Predicting; how; inducible; defences; large

Exploring the mechanisms that structure food webs has been a cornerstone of ecological inquiry for over a century. The importance of predator-prey interactions, particularly among large animals near the apex positions of trophic systems, has been highlighted. Predators exert consumptive, also known as lethal, effects (CEs), and nonconsumptive effects (NCEs), represented by the fitness-compromising tradeoff decisions that prey make to avoid predation (i.e., NCEs). The nature and strength of these CEs and NCEs can cascade down trophic systems and drive the evolution of defences in prey induced by predation. Much has been learned from this research effort and yet, two vital knowledge gaps persist, both relating to human predation at the top of food chains. First, it is not known whether large animals have evolved defences that are induced by human predation. This is unclear because the costs of large animal decisions in response to human predation have not yet been properly quantified. Second, the impact of human-induced NCEs on food web dynamics has not been measured. Consequently, it is not known whether human predation exerts effects that can cascade down trophic systems. I will fill these major voids in ecological understanding via experimental study of a Ugandan large mammal system experiencing human predation from subsistence poaching. Dividing my 880 km2 study area into equal-sized treatment (where subsistence poaching is common) and control (where subsistence poaching is naturally rare because of distance from human community) portions, I will quantify the costs of large mammal decisions and fit habitat domain models to elucidate how human predation shapes food web dynamics. While it is widely known that humans have top-down and bottom-up impacts on trophic systems, my project will articulate the ways in which cascading mechanisms can flow from human predation with important implications in the Anthropocene for every other trophic system on earth.

一个多世纪以来，探索构建食物网的机制一直是生态探究的基石。捕食者相互作用的重要性，尤其是在营养系统的先端位置附近的大型动物中。捕食者发挥消费性，也称为致命作用（CES）和非消费效应（NCES），由捕食以避免捕食（即NCES）做出的健身委托书的权衡决策代表。这些CES和NES的性质和强度可以降低营养系统，并推动捕食引起的猎物中防御的进化。从这项研究的工作中学到了很多东西，但是，两个重要的知识差距仍然存在，这两者都与人类的捕食有关。首先，尚不清楚大型动物是否已经进化了人类捕食引起的防御能力。这还不清楚，因为尚未正确量化对人类捕食的大型动物决定的成本。其次，尚未测量人类诱导的NCE对食物网络动力学的影响。因此，尚不清楚人类捕食是否会产生可以降低营养系统的影响。我将通过对乌干达大型哺乳动物系统的实验研究来填补这些主要空隙，从而经历了人类的生存偷猎。将我的880 km2研究区域划分为相等大小的治疗（在这种情况下是常见的偷猎）和对照（由于与人类社区的距离，自给自足的偷猎自然是罕见的）部分，我将量化大型哺乳动物决策的成本，并适合栖息地领域的成本，以阐明人类捕食的方式塑造食物网络动力学。众所周知，人类对营养系统具有自上而下和自下而上的影响，但我的项目将阐明级联机制可以从人类捕食中流动的方式，对人类世代对地球上其他每个营养系统的重要意义。