Boon, James S;
Stratford, John E;
Lynch, Jason;
Yesson, Chris;
Field, Richard;
Exton, Dan A;
Keith, Sally A;
(2025)
Site-level variation in field of view is associated with altered anti-predator responses in farming damselfish.
Behavioral Ecology
, 36
(5)
, Article araf102. 10.1093/beheco/araf102.
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Abstract
The three-dimensional (3D) structure of habitats influences how prey detect and respond to predators, but the specific roles of different aspects of structural complexity remain poorly understood, particularly in coral reef ecosystems. We used 3D models of 3 Caribbean reef sites to quantify 3 structural metrics at site level: field of view (the extent of observable area), refuge density (density of holes), and rugosity (reef surface roughness). We then observed the anti-predator behavior of damselfish, parrotfish, and wrasses at each site. Territorial damselfish showed species-specific responses to habitat structure, especially in relation to field of view. Stegastes adustus, for example, exhibited shorter flight initiation distances (FIDs) at the site with the highest field of view, consistent with expectations from optimal escape theory. In contrast, wrasse and parrotfish species showed little variation in behavior across sites, though larger individuals tended to have longer FIDs and flight distances. Refuge density was similar across sites, likely reflecting long-term regional loss of fine-scale complexity in the Caribbean. While rugosity is widely used as a proxy for reef complexity, our results suggest that field of view may be more strongly associated with differences in anti-predator behavior, particularly in damselfish. These findings highlight the need to assess multiple dimensions of habitat structure, as even closely related species may exhibit distinct behavioral adaptations to their 3D environment.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Site-level variation in field of view is associated with altered anti-predator responses in farming damselfish |
| Location: | United States |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1093/beheco/araf102 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/araf102 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Keywords: | Coral reef fish; Habitat complexity; Predator avoidance; Predator–prey; Risk assessment |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences > Genetics, Evolution and Environment |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10218959 |
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