The following item is accessible at
http://www.consecol.org/Journal/vol6/iss1/art11/manuscript.html and is a useful
discussion piece on the potential impacts of ecotourism and other activities
Frid, A. and L. M. Dill. 2002. Human-caused disturbance stimuli as a form of
predation risk. Conservation Ecology 6(1): 11. [online]
URL: http://www.consecol.org/vol6/iss1/art11
Abstract
Introduction
Are Disturbance Stimuli Really Analagous to Predation Risk?
Trade-offs Directly Related to Energy Gain
Fleeing
Vigilance and related activity shifts
Habitat selection
Aquiring Mates
Parental Investment
Indirect Effects on Populations
Indirect Effects on Communities
Why Invoke the Risk-Disturbance Hypothesis
Responses to this Article
Acknowledgments
Literature Cited
ABSTRACT
A growing number of studies quantify the impact of nonlethal human disturbance
on the behavior and reproductive success of animals. Athough many are well
designed and analytically sophisticated, most lack a theoretical framework for
making predictions and for understanding why particular responses occur.
Behavioral ecologists have recently begun to fill this theoretical vacuum by
applying economic models of antipredator behavior to disturbance studies. In
this emerging paradigm, predation and nonlethal disturbance stimuli create
similar trade-offs between avoiding perceived risk and other fitness-enhancing
activities, such as feeding, parental care, or mating. A vast literature
supports the hypothesis that
antipredator behavior has a cost to other activities, and that this trade-off is
optimized when investment in antipredator behavior tracks short-term changes in
predation risk. Prey have evolved antipredator responses to generalized
threatening
stimuli, such as loud noises and rapidly approaching objects. Thus, when
encountering disturbance stimuli ranging from the dramatic, low-flying
helicopter to the quiet wildlife photographer, animal responses are likely to
follow the same
economic principles used by prey encountering predators. Some authors have
argued that, similar to predation risk, disturbance stimuli can indirectly
affect fitness and population dynamics via the energetic and lost opportunity
costs of risk
avoidance. We elaborate on this argument by discussing why, from an evolutionary
perspective, disturbance stimuli should be analogous to predation risk. We then
consider disturbance effects on the behavior of individuals?vigilance, fleeing,
habitat selection, mating displays, and parental investment?as well as indirect
effects on populations and communities. A wider application of predation risk
theory to disturbance studies should increase the generality of predictions and
make mitigation more effective without over-regulating human activities.
Address of Correspondent:
Alejandro Frid
Behavioural Ecology Research Group
Department of Biological Sciences
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6
current address: POB 10357, Whitehorse, YT, Canada,Y1A 7A1
Phone: 867/393-4027
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