TY - JOUR
T1 - Both prey and predator features predict the individual predation risk and survival of schooling prey
AU - Jolles, Jolle Wolter
AU - Sosna, Matthew M.G.
AU - Mazué, Geoffrey P.F.
AU - Twomey, Colin R.
AU - Bak-Coleman, Joseph
AU - Rubenstein, Daniel I.
AU - Couzin, Iain D.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife for providing the pike used in this study and for their valuable advice, three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions, and Mike Gil and Jake Graving for constructive feedback on a previous version of the manuscript. We acknowledge support from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Postdoctoral Fellowship to J.W.J), the Zukunftskolleg, Institute for Advanced Study at the University of Konstanz (Postdoctoral Fellowship to J.W.J), the Severo Ochoa Program for Centres of Excellence funded by the MCIN and the AEI (Postdoctoral Grant to J.W.J, #CEX-2018–000828 S), NSF-DDIG (Graduate Research Fellowship to M.M.G.S, #1701289), MindCORE (Postdoctoral Research Fellowship to C.R.T), the Center for an Informed Public and the John S and James L Knight Foundation (support to J.B.-C.), the Office of Naval Research (Research Grant to I.D.C, #N00014-64019-1-2556), the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement (to I.D.C; #860949), the Struktur-und Innovationsfonds für die Forschung (SI-BW) of the State of Baden-Württemberg, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany’s Excellence Strategy-EXC 2117–422037984 (to I.D.C.), and the Max Planck Society.
Publisher Copyright:
© Jolles et al.
PY - 2022/7
Y1 - 2022/7
N2 - Predation is one of the main evolutionary drivers of social grouping. While it is well appreciated that predation risk is likely not shared equally among individuals within groups, its detailed quantification has remained difficult due to the speed of attacks and the highly dynamic nature of collective prey response. Here, using high-resolution tracking of solitary predators (Northern pike) hunting schooling fish (golden shiners), we not only provide insights into predator decision-making, but show which key spatial and kinematic features of predator and prey predict the risk of individuals to be targeted and to survive attacks. We found that pike tended to stealthily approach the largest groups, and were often already inside the school when launching their attack, making prey in this frontal ‘strike zone’ the most vulnerable to be targeted. From the prey’s perspec-tive, those fish in central locations, but relatively far from, and less aligned with, neighbours, were most likely to be targeted. While the majority of attacks were successful (70%), targeted individuals that did manage to avoid being captured exhibited a higher maximum acceleration response just before the attack and were further away from the pike‘s head. Our results highlight the crucial interplay between predators’ attack strategy and response of prey underlying the predation risk within mobile animal groups.
AB - Predation is one of the main evolutionary drivers of social grouping. While it is well appreciated that predation risk is likely not shared equally among individuals within groups, its detailed quantification has remained difficult due to the speed of attacks and the highly dynamic nature of collective prey response. Here, using high-resolution tracking of solitary predators (Northern pike) hunting schooling fish (golden shiners), we not only provide insights into predator decision-making, but show which key spatial and kinematic features of predator and prey predict the risk of individuals to be targeted and to survive attacks. We found that pike tended to stealthily approach the largest groups, and were often already inside the school when launching their attack, making prey in this frontal ‘strike zone’ the most vulnerable to be targeted. From the prey’s perspec-tive, those fish in central locations, but relatively far from, and less aligned with, neighbours, were most likely to be targeted. While the majority of attacks were successful (70%), targeted individuals that did manage to avoid being captured exhibited a higher maximum acceleration response just before the attack and were further away from the pike‘s head. Our results highlight the crucial interplay between predators’ attack strategy and response of prey underlying the predation risk within mobile animal groups.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85135596498&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85135596498&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.7554/ELIFE.76344
DO - 10.7554/ELIFE.76344
M3 - Article
C2 - 35852826
AN - SCOPUS:85135596498
SN - 2050-084X
VL - 11
JO - eLife
JF - eLife
M1 - e76344
ER -