Navigating new threats: Prey naïveté in native mammals.

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Invasive Species Biology
• Animal Behavior

Background:

• Invasive predators threaten global biodiversity, often exploiting prey naïveté.
• Prey species exhibit varied responses to invasive predators, leading to hypotheses like biogeographic isolation (BIH) and archetype similarity (ASH).

Purpose of the Study:

• To test BIH and ASH predictions using native mammals' responses to invasive Burmese pythons.
• To understand how predation history influences prey vulnerability to novel threats.

Main Methods:

• Assessed giving-up densities (GUDs) in common raccoons and hispid cotton rats.
• Exposed animals to replicas of invasive Burmese pythons and native predators (rattlesnakes, coyotes).

Main Results:

• Cotton rats showed increased GUDs to all predator types, indicating generalized fear.
• Raccoons only increased GUDs to coyotes, suggesting specific predator recognition based on experience.
• Results supported the archetype similarity hypothesis (ASH) over biogeographic isolation (BIH).

Conclusions:

• Prey naïveté to invasive predators is influenced by evolutionary predation history.
• Species-specific responses, not just isolation, determine vulnerability to invasive species.
• Understanding these dynamics is crucial for managing invasive predator impacts on native wildlife.