Data from: Food-safety trade-offs drive dynamic behavioral antipredator responses among snowshoe hares
Data files
Sep 17, 2024 version files 13.58 MB
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Hare_Night_20min_Foraging_JAE.csv
12.56 MB
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Hare_Night_Vigilance_JAE.csv
955.11 KB
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Patch_Predator_Detections_JAE.csv
24.70 KB
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Predator_Detections_JAE.csv
13.02 KB
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R_Code_for_Analysis_JAE.R
18.93 KB
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README.md
5.39 KB
Abstract
Prey adopt various antipredator responses to minimize the risk of predation; the fitness costs of antipredator responses can have emergent effects on the population dynamics of prey species. While the trade-off between food acquisition and predation avoidance has long been recognized in predicting antipredator responses, less attention has examined how the dynamics of the food-safety trade-off are driven by temporal variation in multiple risk factors under changing seasonal conditions. Here, we monitored foraging and vigilance behavior of a central prey species, snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus), at fine temporal scales over the winter with various types of predation risk, while also experimentally manipulating predation risk by attracting predators to foraging patches. Hares increased foraging and decreased vigilance over the winter, but hares under chronic risk decreased their antipredator efforts to a lesser degree, indicating that those individuals prioritized risk avoidance over food acquisition. Hares also decreased foraging and increased antipredator efforts in response to the temporal activity of predators and environmental cues of predation risk. However, the magnitude of the responses to the environmental cues was mediated by time of winter. While we did not detect a reactive response of hares to acute risk, we did find that hares exhibiting camouflage mismatch proactively increased vigilance. Overall, our results highlight the importance of species-specific traits and changing seasonal conditions in addition to temporal variation in multiple risk factors in predicting antipredator responses and the context dependence of risk effects.
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.dv41ns27d
Description of the data and file structure
Data were collected in the Chequamegon National Forest Medford District (45.291° N, 90.517° W) in Wisconsin, USA, in winter 2022 and 2023. This dataset consists of 4 data files (two predator detection data files, snowshoe hare foraging data file and snowshoe hare vigilance data file) and 1 R code, which are listed below with descriptions of the individual data files and variables in them.
Files and variables
File: Hare_Night_Vigilance_JAE.csv
Description: Hare night vigilance data
Variables
“ID” = feeder ID, “patch” = patch ID, “trt” = treatment type of patch, “datetime” = date and time of detection (in CST), “date” = date, “sunrise” = sunrise time, “sunset” = sunset time, “dawn” = dawn time", “dusk” = dusk time, “tod” = time of day, “hu_time” = vigilance time over 1-minute window, “pwhite” = %white of hare, “gsnow” = %snow cover on ground, “mm” = whether hare is mismatched or not, “pred_pres” = presence of predator in spatiotemporal proximity, “primpred” = presence of primary predator in spatiotemporal proximity, “wind_km” = wind speed (km/h), “wind_time” = time of assigned wind speed, “wind_timdif” = time difference between foraging data and wind data (minutes), “temp_cel” = temperature (Celcius), “temp_time” = time of assigned temperature, “temp_timdif” = time difference between foraging data and temperature data (minutes), “cloud” = cloud coverage, “cloud_time” = time of assigned cloud coverage, “cloud_timdif” = time difference between foraging data and cloud coverage data (minutes), “moon” = fraction of moon illuminated, “clmoon” = lunar luminosity, “snow_cm” = daily snow depth (cm), “wday” = time of winter (number of days since Dec 1), “rtime” = date and time in radians, “rsunrise“ = time of sunrise in radians, “rsunset“ = time of sunset in radians, “avgtimes” = scaled datetime relative to average sunrise and sunset times, “radnight” = night hour (from sunset) in radians, “night” = night hour (from sunset)
File: Predator_Detections_JAE.csv
Description: Predator detection data from outside of the experimental patches
Variables
“camera” = camera ID, “datetime” = date and time of detection (in CST), “species” = predator species, “date” = date, “sunrise” = sunrise time, “sunset” = sunset time, “dawn” = dawn time", “dusk” = dusk time, “tod” = time of day
File: Patch_Predator_Detections_JAE.csv
Description: Predator detection data from inside of the experimental patches
Variables
“Patch” = ID of experimental patch, “Camera” = camera ID, “Treatment” = treatment type of experimental patch (predator or control), “Species” = predator species, “datetime” = date and time of detection (in CST), “date” = date, “sunrise” = sunrise time, “sunset” = sunset time, “dawn” = dawn time", “dusk” = dusk time, “tod” = time of day
File: R_Code_for_Analysis_JAE.R
Description: R code for analysis
File: Hare_Night_20min_Foraging_JAE.csv
Description: Hare night foraging data
Variables
“datetime” = date and time of detection (in CST), “date” = date, “sunrise” = sunrise time, “sunset” = sunset time, “dawn” = dawn time", “dusk” = dusk time, “tod” = time of day, “year” = year, “hare” = hare ID, “sex” = sex of hare, “fortime_20” = foraging time of hare over 20-min window, “wind_km” = wind speed (km/h), “wind_time” = time of assigned wind speed, “wind_timdif” = time difference between foraging data and wind data (minutes), “temp_cel” = temperature (Celcius), “temp_time” = time of assigned temperature, “temp_timdif” = time difference between foraging data and temperature data (minutes), “cloud” = cloud coverage, “cloud_time” = time of assigned cloud coverage, “cloud_timdif” = time difference between foraging data and cloud coverage data (minutes), “moon” = fraction of moon illuminated, “clmoon” = lunar luminosity, “snow_cm” = daily snow depth (cm), “wday” = time of winter (number of days since Dec 1), “rtime” = date and time in radians, “rsunrise“ = time of sunrise in radians, “rsunset“ = time of sunset in radians, “avgtimes” = scaled datetime relative to average sunrise and sunset times, “radnight” = night hour (from sunset) in radians, “night” = night hour (from sunset)
Code/software
Microsoft Excel and R are needed to open these data files, and required R packages for the analysis are listed in the R code file.
Access information
Data was derived from the following sources:
- Meteorological data including wind speed, cloud coverage and air temperature (recorded every 20 minutes) from the Automated Surface Observing Systems (ASOS) at the nearest available weather station to the study area (located ~ 30 km away).
- Daily snow depth data from the nearest available weather station to the study area (located ~ 25 km away).
Snowshoe hare foraging (by accelerometer collars) and vigilance data (by trail cameras) and predator detection data (by trail cameras) were collected in the Chequamegon National Forest Medford District (45.291° N, 90.517° W) in Wisconsin, USA, in winter 2022 and 2023. We obtained meteorological data including wind speed, cloud coverage and air temperature recorded every 20 minutes as a part of the Automated Surface Observing Systems (ASOS) at the nearest available weather station to the study area (located ~ 30 km away). Daily snow depth data were obtained from the nearest available weather station to the study area (located ~ 25 km away).