{"id":2978,"date":"2019-09-09T16:30:38","date_gmt":"2019-09-09T16:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/?p=2978"},"modified":"2019-09-09T16:30:45","modified_gmt":"2019-09-09T16:30:45","slug":"the-seascape-of-fear-what-are-the-ecological-implications-of-being-afraid-in-the-marine-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/2019\/09\/09\/the-seascape-of-fear-what-are-the-ecological-implications-of-being-afraid-in-the-marine-environment\/","title":{"rendered":"The Seascape of Fear: What are the ecological implications of being afraid in the marine environment?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By\u00a0Dawn Barlow<\/a>, PhD student,\u00a0OSU Department of Fisheries and Wildlife,\u00a0Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna Lab<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the GEMM Lab, our research focuses largely on the ecology of marine top predators. Inherent in our work are often assumptions that our study species\u2014wide-ranging predators including whales, dolphins, otters, or seabirds\u2014will distribute themselves relative to their prey. In order to make a living in the highly patchy and dynamic marine environment, predators must find ways to predictably locate and exploit prey resources. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what about the prey? How do the prey structure themselves relative to their predators? This question is explored in depth in a paper titled \u201cThe Landscape of Fear: Ecological Implications of Being Afraid<\/em>\u201d (Laundre et al. 2010), which we discussed in our most recent lab meeting. When wolves were re-introduced in Yellowstone, the elk increased their vigilance and altered their grazing patterns. As a result, the plant community was altered to reflect this \u201clandscape of fear\u201d that the elk move through, where their distribution not only reflected opportunities for the elk to eat but also the risk of being eaten. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translating the landscape of fear concept to the marine environment is tricky, but a fascinating exercise in ecological theory. We grappled with drawing parallels between the example system of wolves, elk, and vegetation and baleen whales, zooplankton, and phytoplankton. Relative to grazing mammals like elk, the cognitive abilities of zooplankton like krill, copepods, and mysid might pale in comparison. How could we possibly measure \u201cfear\u201d or \u201cvigilance\u201d in zooplankton? The swarming behavior of mysid and krill into dense patches is a defense mechanism\u2014the strategy they have evolved to lessen the likelihood that any one of them will be eaten by a predator. I would posit that the diel vertical migration (DVM) of zooplankton is a manifestation of fear, at least on some level. DVM occurs over the course of each day, with plankton in pelagic ecosystems migrating vertically in the water column to avoid predators by hiding at depth during the daylight hours, and then swimming upward to feed on phytoplankton under the cover of darkness. I won\u2019t speculate any further on the intelligence of zooplankton, but the need to survive predation has driven them to evolve this effective evolutionary strategy of hiding in the ocean\u2019s twilight zone, swimming upward to feed only after dark so that they\u2019re less likely to linger in spaces occupied by predators. <\/p>\n\n\n\n