Author(s): Crane AL; Feyten LEA; Preagola AA; Ferrari MCO; Brown GE;

Uncertainty has long been of interest to economists and psychologists and has more recently gained attention among ecologists. In the ecological world, animals must regularly make decisions related to finding resources and avoiding threats. Here, we describe uncertainty as a perceptual phenomenon of decision-makers, and we focus specifically on the functi ...

Article GUID: 37839808

Author(s): Feyten LEA; Ramnarine IW; Brown GE;

In response to uncertain risks, prey may rely on neophobic phenotypes to reduce the costs associated with the lack of information regarding local conditions. Neophobia has been shown to be driven by information reliability, ambient risk and predator diversity, all of which shape uncertainty of risk. We similarly expect environmental conditions to shape un ...

Article GUID: 37753307

Author(s): Feyten LEA; Demers EEM; Ramnarine IW; Brown GE;

Neophobic predator avoidance, where prey actively avoid novel stimuli, is thought to allow prey to cope with the inability to predict predation risk (i.e. uncertainty) while reducing the costs associated with learning. Recent studies suggest that neophobia is elicited as a response to unpredictable and elevated mean predation risk, and is linked to experi ...

Article GUID: 35907447

Author(s): Crane AL; Demers EE; Feyten LEA; Ramnarine IW; Brown GE;

Animals can reduce their uncertainty of predation risk by gathering new information via exploration behaviour. However, a decision to explore may also be costly due to increased predator exposure. Here, we found contextual effects of predation risk on the exploratory activity of Trinidadian guppies Poecilia reticulata in a novel environment. First, guppie ...

Article GUID: 34741669

Author(s): Crane AL, Meuthen D, Thapa H, Ferrari MCO, Brown GE

Exposure to predation risk can induce a fearful baseline state, as well as fear reactions toward novel situations (i.e., neophobia). Some research indicates that risk exposure during sensitive periods makes adults more prone to acquiring long-term fearful phenotypes. However, chronic risk can also lead to ignoring threats in order to maintain other activi ...

Article GUID: 33125574