DOI: 10.5061/dryad.z08kprrkx
title: Data from: Prey responses to foxes are not determined by nativeness

description: Introduced predators are thought to be responsible for the decline and
 extinction of their native prey. The prey naivety hypothesis provides a
 mechanism for these declines, suggesting that native prey are vulnerable
 to introduced predators as their coevolutionary history is insufficiently
 long for antipredator behaviours to fully develop. The prey naivety
 hypothesis thus predicts that prey will be less responsive to introduced
 predators than to native predators. Australia’s endemic small mammals are
 thought to be vulnerable to predation by red foxes because they are less
 responsive to – or naive to – a predator with whom they have only
 co-occurred since the 19th century. To test whether nativeness determines
 antipredator behaviours we compared small mammal behavioural responses to
 fox scent outside (Australia) and inside the foxes’ native range (North
 America and Israel). We conducted giving-up density experiments in the
 deserts of these three regions and evaluated small mammal anti-predator
 responses to fox scent. To place these results in a broader context, we
 then integrated our results into a meta-analysis of studies assessing prey
 responsiveness to fox scent. All small mammals similarly increased their
 vigilance in response to fox scent, regardless of their coevolutionary
 history with foxes. Australian small mammals responded with greater
 wariness to fox scent, by decreasing time at food patches in response to
 fox scent more than Israeli and American small mammals did. However, we
 found no evidence that this behaviour influenced foraging as nut
 consumption was unaffected. Our meta-analysis revealed that globally,
 small mammals respond with similar wariness to fox scent regardless of
 whether foxes are their native predator. We found no evidence that
 Australian small mammals respond in a maladaptive manner, compared to the
 foxes’ native prey. Our results suggest that animals can develop
 antipredator behaviours to introduced predators to the same magnitude as
 native prey.
description: This README file for dataset Data from: "Prey responses to foxes are
 not determined by nativeness" was generated on 2023-12-12 by Eamonn
 Wooster GENERAL INFORMATION 1\. Title of Dataset: Data from: Prey
 responses to foxes are not determined by nativeness 2\. Corresponding
 Author Information Name: Eamonn Wooster 3\. Date of data collection
 (single date, range, approximate date): 2018-2020 4\. Geographic location
 of data collection: Death Valley, USA. Arava, Isreal. Simpson and Painted
 Deserts, Australia. 5\. Information about funding sources that supported
 the collection of the data: ARC DP180100272 SHARING/ACCESS INFORMATION 1\.
 Licenses/restrictions placed on the data: 2\. Links to publications that
 cite or use the data: DOI:10.1111/ecog.07031 3\. Links to other publicly
 accessible locations of the data: NA 4\. Links/relationships to ancillary
 data sets: NA 5\. Was data derived from another source? Wallach, Arian D.,
 et al. "Savviness of prey to introduced predators." Conservation
 Biology 37.2 (2023): e14012. 6\. Recommended citation for this dataset:
 Cite the paper. DATA & FILE OVERVIEW 1\. File List: Behaviour_data.csv
 - all behavioural variables included in the paper. Consumption_data.csv -
 data on peanut consumption at foraging trays. METHODOLOGICAL INFORMATION
 1\. Description of methods used for collection/generation of data: All
 data were collected form camera trapping and foraging tray experiments.
 Read the full paper for details. 2\. Methods for processing the data: Read
 the full paper for details. 3\. Instrument- or software-specific
 information needed to interpret the data: N/A 4\. Standards and
 calibration information, if appropriate: NA 5\. Environmental/experimental
 conditions: NA 6\. Describe any quality-assurance procedures performed on
 the data: NA 7\. People involved with sample collection, processing,
 analysis and/or submission: All authors DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR:
 Behaviour_data.csv 1\. Number of variables: 10 2\. Number of cases/rows:
 364 3\. Variable List: Site: Study site TrayID: Foraging tray
 identification number Region: Country of study site Scent_trt: fox scent
 or control scent Nativness: Is the fox introduced or native to the study
 site Genus: the genus of the small mammal Variable: the behavioural
 variable Control: Proportion of time spent in behaviour across the control
 periods, prior to scent application Experiment: Proportion of time spent
 in behaviour across the experimental periods, after to the addition of
 scent Diff: Difference between control and experiment DATA-SPECIFIC
 INFORMATION FOR: Consumption_data.csv 1\. Number of variables: 8 2\.
 Number of cases/rows: 150 3\. Variable List: Site: Study site TrayID:
 Foraging tray identification number Region: Country of study site
 Scent_trt: fox scent or control scent Nativeness: Is the fox introduced or
 native to the study site Control: Proportion of nuts consumed across the
 control periods, prior to scent application Experiment: Proportion of nuts
 consumed across the experimental periods, after to the addition of scent
 Diff: Difference between control and experiment