Contagious fear: Escape behavior increases with flock size in European gregarious birds

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F61989592%3A15310%2F19%3A73604658" target="_blank" >RIV/61989592:15310/19:73604658 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1002/ece3.5193" target="_blank" >https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1002/ece3.5193</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5193" target="_blank" >10.1002/ece3.5193</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Contagious fear: Escape behavior increases with flock size in European gregarious birds

Original language description

Flight initiation distance (FID), the distance at which individuals take flight when approached by a potential (human) predator, is a tool for understanding predator-prey interactions. Among the factors affecting FID, tests of effects of group size (i.e., number of potential prey) on FID have yielded contrasting results. Group size or flock size could either affect FID negatively (i.e., the dilution effect caused by the presence of many individuals) or positively (i.e., increased vigilance due to more eyes scanning for predators). These effects may be associated with gregarious species, because such species should be better adapted to exploiting information from other individuals in the group than nongregarious species. Sociality may explain why earlier findings on group size versus FID have yielded different conclusions. Here, we analyzed how flock size affected bird FID in eight European countries. A phylogenetic generalized least square regression model was used to investigate changes in escape behavior of bird species in relation to number of individuals in the flock, starting distance, diet, latitude, and type of habitat. Flock size of different bird species influenced how species responded to perceived threats. We found that gregarious birds reacted to a potential predator earlier (longer FID) when aggregated in large flocks. These results support a higher vigilance arising from many eyes scanning in birds, suggesting that sociality may be a key factor in the evolution of antipredator behavior both in urban and rural areas. Finally, future studies comparing FID must pay explicit attention to the number of individuals in flocks of gregarious species.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_SC - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the SCOPUS database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10618 - Ecology

Project

—

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2019

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Ecology and Evolution

ISSN

2045-7758

e-ISSN

—

Volume of the periodical

9

Issue of the periodical within the volume

10

Country of publishing house

US - UNITED STATES

Number of pages

9

Pages from-to

6096-6104

UT code for WoS article

000470923500043

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85066244109