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No longer naïve? Generalized responses of rabbits to marsupial predators in Australia

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Abstract

Predation is an important selective force on prey species, but avoiding predators can be costly. Efficient decisions on who to avoid (predator recognition) and when (situations with different predation risk) will determine the chances of prey survival. In coevolved predator-prey systems, detection of predator odours generally induces a response in potential prey to reduce predation risk. However, prey may not necessarily respond to odours of predators with which they have no previous experience, as predicted by the prey naïveté hypothesis. In turn, perceived predation risk may also modulate predator recognition and the intensity of antipredator responses. In this study, we investigate the responses of an introduced prey species, the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), to odours from coevolved and non-coevolved, sympatric and allopatric predators in situations of high and low numbers of predators in Australia. We used pellet counts to quantify rabbits’ use of space on experimental plots treated with predator odours. Rabbit avoidance of plots scented with coevolved predator odours was strongest, but they also responded to non-coevolved, marsupial predators. Predator abundance did not affect predator recognition in rabbits, although responses were more intense in situations where perceived predation risk was low and the intensity of responses decreased over time. Our results suggest that rabbits may have learned to recognize novel marsupial predators after 150 years of exposure in their introduced range.

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Acknowledgments

We want to thank Phil Barnes and Will for their help and logistic support to conduct the experiments in their estates and James Dawson (Office of Environment and Heritage, NSW) for his help in selecting field sites and providing tiger quoll video recording. Thanks to people in the Banks’ Lab at the University of Sydney for their valuable comments on earlier drafts.

Compliance with ethical standards

ᅟ

Funding

FST was funded by a Grant of the Spanish Research Council (Programa Salvador de Madariaga PR2010-0556).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical approval

The experimental treatment had ethics approval number 09/99B by the University of Sydney, and all applicable, national and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.

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Author notes

  1. Isabel C. Barrio

    Present address: Institute of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland, Sturlugata 7, IS-101, Reykjavík, Iceland

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, University of Córdoba, Campus de Rabanales, 14071, Córdoba, Spain

    Francisco S. Tortosa

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E9, Canada

    Isabel C. Barrio

  3. School of Biological Sciences, Behavioural Ecology and Conservation Research Group, University of Sydney, Rm 101, Science Road Cottage A10, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Alexandra J. R. Carthey & Peter B. Banks

Authors
  1. Francisco S. Tortosa
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  2. Isabel C. Barrio
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  4. Peter B. Banks
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Francisco S. Tortosa.

Additional information

Communicated by A. I. Schulte-Hostedde

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Tortosa, F.S., Barrio, I.C., Carthey, A.J.R. et al. No longer naïve? Generalized responses of rabbits to marsupial predators in Australia. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 69, 1649–1655 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-015-1976-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-015-1976-z

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