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Fear of large carnivores causes a trophic cascade

Author

Listed:
  • Justin P. Suraci

    (University of Victoria
    Raincoast Conservation Foundation
    University of Western Ontario)

  • Michael Clinchy

    (University of Western Ontario)

  • Lawrence M. Dill

    (Simon Fraser University)

  • Devin Roberts

    (University of Victoria)

  • Liana Y. Zanette

    (University of Western Ontario)

Abstract

The fear large carnivores inspire, independent of their direct killing of prey, may itself cause cascading effects down food webs potentially critical for conserving ecosystem function, particularly by affecting large herbivores and mesocarnivores. However, the evidence of this has been repeatedly challenged because it remains experimentally untested. Here we show that experimentally manipulating fear itself in free-living mesocarnivore (raccoon) populations using month-long playbacks of large carnivore vocalizations caused just such cascading effects, reducing mesocarnivore foraging to the benefit of the mesocarnivore’s prey, which in turn affected a competitor and prey of the mesocarnivore’s prey. We further report that by experimentally restoring the fear of large carnivores in our study system, where most large carnivores have been extirpated, we succeeded in reversing this mesocarnivore’s impacts. We suggest that our results reinforce the need to conserve large carnivores given the significant “ecosystem service” the fear of them provides.

Suggested Citation

  • Justin P. Suraci & Michael Clinchy & Lawrence M. Dill & Devin Roberts & Liana Y. Zanette, 2016. "Fear of large carnivores causes a trophic cascade," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-7, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms10698
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms10698
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    Cited by:

    1. Tiwari, Vandana & Tripathi, Jai Prakash & Mishra, Swati & Upadhyay, Ranjit Kumar, 2020. "Modeling the fear effect and stability of non-equilibrium patterns in mutually interfering predator–prey systems," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 371(C).
    2. Hossain, Mainul & Pal, Nikhil & Samanta, Sudip, 2020. "Impact of fear on an eco-epidemiological model," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    3. Sahu, S.R. & Raw, S.N., 2023. "Appearance of chaos and bi-stability in a fear induced delayed predator–prey system: A mathematical modeling study," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 175(P1).
    4. Banamali Maji & Samares Pal, 2022. "Impact of fear effect exerted by Pterois volitans on a coral reef ecosystem with parrotfish refuge and harvesting of both fishes," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 2267-2287, February.
    5. Sk, Nazmul & Tiwari, Pankaj Kumar & Pal, Samares, 2022. "A delay nonautonomous model for the impacts of fear and refuge in a three species food chain model with hunting cooperation," Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (MATCOM), Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 136-166.
    6. Panday, Pijush & Samanta, Sudip & Pal, Nikhil & Chattopadhyay, Joydev, 2020. "Delay induced multiple stability switch and chaos in a predator–prey model with fear effect," Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (MATCOM), Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 134-158.

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