Reinstating a landscape of fear: Community-wide behavioral responses to predator reintroduction

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Meredith S. Palmer, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, Kaitlyn M. Gaynor, National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California - Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, Matthew C. Hutchinson, Erin Phillips and Robert M. Pringle, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, Justine Becker, Department of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, Joel O. Abraham, Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, Paola Bouley, Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique

Background/Question/Methods
In theory, large carnivores play a key role in structuring ecological communities through their effects on prey behavior and population dynamics. With over 60% of terrestrial carnivores facing extinction, it is critical to understand i) what happens to these systems when predators are lost and ii) whether predator reintroductions can restore functional ecological relationships. Here, we examine the effects of African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) reintroduction to the Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique on the spatiotemporal activity of a broad prey community. Using multi-year camera trap monitoring, vigilance surveys, and road transects, we investigate how large herbivores that differ in key traits relating to vulnerability and resource requirements alter their landscape use, diel activity patterns, vigilance behavior, and group size under renewed predation risk.
Results/Conclusions
Preliminary results suggest that large mammalian herbivores shift either their diel activity patterning, habitat use, or a combination of both in response to wild dog reintroduction. The type of behavioral shift and degree of change are correlated with prey characteristics related to their vulnerability, resource requirements, and social structure. Final results will be presented at ESA. This unique natural experiment allows us to evaluate the role that predators play in shaping community dynamics by comparing prey activity in the presence and absence of predation threat. Furthermore, our results can be used to guide efforts aiming to shift degraded systems back to rewilded states.