WATCH OUT!

FLIGHT BEHAVIOR

OF MALLARDS (ANAS PLATYRHYNCHOS)

Janina BrakelJavier Díaz Álvarez

Behavioral Ecology Miguel Herrero López Yuanheng Li

Dorothee Blattner

Behavioral Ecology

Most animals have predators.

Flight is one way to avoid getting caught.

Question: When to start to flee? How to move away?

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Depends on risk level and energy budget

Behavioral Ecology

Direct cues Indirect cues

Definition Cue deriving from the predator cue does not derive from the predator

but influences the likelihood of getting

caught by the predator

Examples Predator itself (visual)

Noise of predator (auditory)

Smell of predator (olfactory)

Distance to the refuge (shown for squirrels by Thorson et al. 1998)

Distance to the predator Crypticity

Speed of approaching predator Escaping substrate

Assessment of predatory risk

(Risk is the probability that a chosen action will lead to a loss.)

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Behavioral Ecology

Flight initiation distance (FID)

Def.: At the flight initiation distance animals move away from approaching

threats (Blumstein, 2003)

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

(from Blumstein, 2003)

costs of remaining

cost of flight

Behavioral Ecology

Economic model of flight distance

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Cos

t of

fle

eing

(C

) an

d re

mai

ning

(B

)

Distance of predator(from Ydenberg and Dill, 1886)

high quality patch high costs of leaving

low quality patch low costs of leaving

Behavioral Ecology

How to escape: flying or running?

Flying: most expensive mode of movement among vertebrates

Assumption: In order to save energy running away should be preferred

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Behavioral Ecology

Distance to refuge

Patch qualityFeeding/not feeding

RESEARCH QUESTION

H (1): Flight-initiation distance is shorter in feeding mallards

FID

Behavioral Ecology

Distance to refuge

Speed of predator approach

distance of predator

Patch qualityFeeding/not feeding

RESEARCH QUESTION

H (1): Flight-initiation distance is shorter in feeding mallards

H (2): Flight-initiation distance increases with increasing speed of approach

FID

Behavioral Ecology

Distance to refuge

Speed of predator approach

distance of predator

Patch qualityFeeding/not feeding

RESEARCH QUESTION

H (1): Flight-initiation distance is shorter in feeding mallards

H (2): Flight-initiation distance increases with increasing speed of approach

H (3): With increasing speed of approach mallards tend to fly away instead

of walking away.

FID

Behavioral Ecology

Blumstein DT (2003): Flight-Initiation Distance in Birds Is Dependent on Intruder Starting Distance. J Wildl Manage 67: 852-857

Thorson JM, Morgan RA, Brown JS, Norman JE (1998): Direct and indirect cues of predatory risk and patch use by fox squirrels and thirteen-lined ground squirrels. Behav Ecol 9: 151-157

Ydenberg RC and Dill LM (1886): The Economics of Fleeing from Predators. Adv Study Behav 16: 229-249

Pictures:http://www.conservationfund.org/gozero/louisiana_lakeophelia_grandcote (05.05.2011)http://www.jrcompton.com/photos/The_Birds/J/Dec-09.html (05.05.2011)https://www.math.duke.edu/education/prep02/Word2HTML/MathType%20export/Predator-prey.htm (05.05.2011)http://pixdaus.com/single.php?id=113964 (05.05.2011)http://barbaramartin.blogspot.com/2009/01/my-town-monday-marie-curtis-park.html (06.05.2011)http://www.photochart.com/photo_6266_Female%20Mallard.html (06.05.2011)

LITERATURE