Intraflock variation in the speed of escape-flight response on attack by an avian predator |
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Authors: | Hilton Geoff M; Cresswell Will; Ruxton Graeme D |
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Institution: | Ornithology Group, IBLS, University of Glasgow |
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Abstract: | The benefits of flocking to prey species, whether through collective
vigilance,dilution of risk, or predator confusion, depend on flock members
respondingin a coordinated way to attack. We videotaped sparrowhawks
attackingredshank flocks to determine if there were differences in thetiming
of escape flights between flock members and the factorsthat might affect any
differences. Sparrowhawks are surpriseshort-chase predators, so variation in
the time taken to takeflight on attack is likely to be a good index of
predation risk.Most birds in a flock flew within 0.25 s of the first bird
flying,and all birds were flying within 0.7 s. Redshanks that werevigilant,
that were closest to the approaching raptor, and thatwere close to their
neighbors took flight earliest within aflock. Birds in larger flocks took
longer, on average, to takeflight, measured from the time that the first bird
in the flockflew. Most birds took flight immediately after near neighbors
tookoff, but later flying birds were more likely to fly immediatelyafter
more distant neighbors took flight. This result, alongwith the result that
increased nearest neighbor distance increasedflight delay, suggests that most
redshanks flew in responseto conspecifics flying. The results strongly
suggest that thereis significant individual variation in predation risk
withinflocks so that individuals within a flock will vary in benefitsthat
they gain from flocking. |
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Keywords: | Accipiter nisus collective detection escape response flocking predation risk reshanks sparrowhawks Tringa totanus |
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