Fearlessness towards extirpated large carnivores may exacerbate the impacts of naïve mesocarnivores

Justin P. Suraci, Devin J. Roberts, Michael Clinchy and Liana Y. Zanette

Behavioral Ecology, 2017, vol. 28, issue 2, 439-447

Abstract: Lay Summary Large carnivores protect ecosystems by frightening mesocarnivores, and “fearless” mesocarnivores wreak havoc where large carnivores are lost. Species may become naïve to potential threats (“tame” in Darwin’s words) when separated from predators, and we show that smaller “mesocarnivores” such as raccoons can be naïve to large carnivores where these top predators have been driven to local extinction. Naiveté in mesocarnivores may threaten biodiversity by leading to unchecked mesocarnivore foraging.Twitter: @JPSuraci

Keywords: antipredator behavior; ecology of fear; mesopredator release; playback experiment; predation risk; predator naiveté. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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