Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2440/137290
Citations
Scopus Web of Science® Altmetric
?
?
Type: Journal article
Title: Addressing prey naivety in native mammals by accelerating selection for antipredator traits
Author: Moseby, K.
Van der Weyde, L.
Letnic, M.
Blumstein, D.T.
West, R.
Bannister, H.
Citation: Ecological Applications, 2023; 33(2):e2780-1-e2780-18
Publisher: Wiley
Issue Date: 2023
ISSN: 1051-0761
1939-5582
Statement of
Responsibility: 
Katherine Moseby, Leanne Van der Weyde, Mike Letnic, Daniel T. Blumstein, Rebecca West, Hannah Bannister
Abstract: Harnessing natural selection to improve conservation outcomes is a recent concept in ecology and evolutionary biology and a potentially powerful tool in species conservation. One possible application is the use of natural selection to improve antipredator responses of mammal species that are threatened by predation from novel predators. We investigated whether long-term exposure of an evolutionary naïve prey species to a novel predator would lead to phenotypic changes in a suite of physical and behavioral traits. We exposed a founder population of 353 burrowing bettongs (Bettongia lesueur) to feral cats (Felis catus) over 5 years and compared the physical and behavioral traits of this population (including offspring) to a control (non-predator exposed) population. We used selection analysis to investigate whether changes in the traits of bettongs were likely due to phenotypic plasticity or natural selection. We also quantified selection in both populations before and during major population crashes caused by drought (control) and high predation pressure (predator-exposed). Results showed that predator-exposed bettongs had longer flight initiation distances, larger hind feet, and larger heads than control bettongs. Trait divergence began soon after exposure and continued to intensify over time for flight initiation distance and hind foot length relative to control bettongs. Selection analysis found indicators of selection for larger hind feet and longer head length in predator-exposed populations. Results of a common garden experiment showed that the progeny of predator-exposed bettongs had larger feet than control bettongs. Results suggest that long-term, low-level exposure of naïve prey to novel predators can drive phenotypic changes that may assist with future conservation efforts.
Keywords: Australia
burrowing bettong
naiveté
natural selection
predation
Description: First published: 17 November 2022
Rights: © 2022 The Authors. Ecological Applications published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Ecological Society of America. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons AttributionLicense, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, providedthe original work is properly cited.
DOI: 10.1002/eap.2780
Grant ID: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LP160100270
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LP190100291
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LP130100173
Published version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/eap.2780
Appears in Collections:Earth and Environmental Sciences publications

Files in This Item:
File Description SizeFormat 
hdl_137290.pdfPublished version1.99 MBAdobe PDFView/Open


Items in DSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.