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Ecology Of Fear
The ecology of fear is a conceptual framework describing the psychological impact that predator-induced stress experienced by animals has on populations and ecosystems. Within ecology, the impact of predators has been traditionally viewed as limited to the animals that they directly kill, while the ecology of fear advances evidence that predators may have a far more substantial impact on the individuals that they predate, reducing fecundity, survival and population sizes. To avoid being killed, animals that are preyed upon will employ anti-predator defenses which aid survival but may carry substantial costs. History The concept was coined in the 1999 paper "The Ecology of Fear: Optimal Foraging, Game Theory, and Trophic Interactions", which argued that "a predator ..depletes a food patch ..by frightening prey rather than by actually killing prey." In the 2000s, the ecology of fear gained attention after researchers identified an impact of the reintroduction of wolves into ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Predator And Prey Activity Footprints Animal Traces In The Snow
Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill the host) and parasitoidism (which always does, eventually). It is distinct from scavenging on dead prey, though many predators also scavenge; it overlaps with herbivory, as seed predators and destructive frugivores are predators. Predation behavior varies significantly depending on the organism. Many predators, especially carnivores, have evolved distinct hunting strategies. Pursuit predation involves the active search for and pursuit of prey, whilst ambush predators instead wait for prey to present an opportunity for capture, and often use stealth or aggressive mimicry. Other predators are opportunistic or omnivorous and only practice predation occasionally. Most obligate carnivores are specialized for hunting. They may have acute se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anti-predator Adaptation
Anti-predator adaptations are mechanisms developed through evolution that assist Predation, prey organisms in their constant struggle against predators. Throughout the animal kingdom, adaptations have evolved for every stage of this struggle, namely by avoiding detection, warding off attack, fighting back, or escaping when caught. The first line of defence consists in avoiding detection, through mechanisms such as camouflage, Masquerade (biology), masquerade, apostatic selection, living underground, or nocturnality. Alternatively, prey animals may ward off attack, whether by advertising the presence of strong defences in aposematism, by mimicry, mimicking animals which do possess such defences, by deimatic behaviour, startling the attacker, by signalling theory, signalling to the predator that pursuit is not worthwhile, by distraction display, distraction, by using defensive structures such as spines, and by social animal, living in a group. Members of groups are at selfish herd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
History Of Wolves In Yellowstone
The history of wolves in Yellowstone includes the extirpation, absence and reintroduction of wild populations of the gray wolf (''Canis lupus'') to Yellowstone National Park and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. When the park was created in 1872, wolf populations were already in decline in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. The creation of the national park did not provide protection for wolves or other predators, and government predator control programs in the first decades of the 1900s essentially helped eliminate the gray wolf from Yellowstone. The last wolves were killed in Yellowstone in 1926. After that, sporadic reports of wolves still occurred, but scientists confirmed in the mid-1900s that sustainable gray wolf populations had been extirpated and were absent from Yellowstone as well as 48 states. Beginning of the 1950s, park managers, biologists, conservationists, and environmentalists began what would ultimately turn into a campaign to reintroduce the gray wolf into Yellow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charismatic Species
Charismatic megafauna are animal species that are large—in the category that they represent—with symbolic value or widespread popular appeal, and are often used by environmental activists to gain public support for environmentalist goals. In this definition, animals such as penguins or bald eagles are megafauna because they are among the largest animals within the local animal community, and they disproportionately affect their environment. The vast majority of charismatic megafauna species are threatened and endangered by issues such as overhunting, poaching, black market trade, climate change, habitat destruction, and invasive species. In a 2018 study, the top twenty most charismatic megafauna included the tiger, lion, and elephant. Use in conservation Charismatic species are often used as flagship species in conservation programs, as they are supposed to affect people's feelings more. However, being charismatic does not protect species against extinction; all of the 10 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Animal Models
A model organism is a non-human species that is extensively studied to understand particular biological phenomena, with the expectation that discoveries made in the model organism will provide insight into the workings of other organisms. Model organisms are widely used to research human disease when human experimentation would be unfeasible or unethical. This strategy is made possible by the common descent of all living organisms, and the conservation of metabolic and developmental pathways and genetic material over the course of evolution. Research using animal models has been central to most of the achievements of modern medicine. It has contributed most of the basic knowledge in fields such as human physiology and biochemistry, and has played significant roles in fields such as neuroscience and infectious disease. The results have included the near- eradication of polio and the development of organ transplantation, and have benefited both humans and animals. From 1910 to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that develops from experiencing a Psychological trauma, traumatic event, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, warfare and its associated traumas, natural disaster, traffic collision, or other threats on a person's life or well-being. Symptoms may include disturbing thoughts, feelings, or dreams related to the events, mental or physical distress (medicine), distress to Psychological trauma, trauma-related cues, attempts to avoid trauma-related cues, alterations in the way a person thinks and feels, and an increase in the fight-or-flight response. These symptoms last for more than a month after the event and can include triggers such as misophonia. Young children are less likely to show distress, but instead may express their memories through play (activity), play. Most people who experience traumatic events do not develop PTSD. People who experience interpersonal violence such as rape, other sexual ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Top Predators
An apex predator, also known as a top predator or superpredator, is a predator at the top of a food chain, without natural predators of its own. Apex predators are usually defined in terms of trophic dynamics, meaning that they occupy the highest trophic levels. Food chains are often far shorter on land, usually limited to being secondary consumers – for example, wolves prey mostly upon large herbivores (primary consumers), which eat plants (primary producers). The apex predator concept is applied in wildlife management, conservation, and ecotourism. Apex predators have a long evolutionary history, dating at least to the Cambrian period when animals such as ''Anomalocaris'' and ''Timorebestia'' dominated the seas. Humans have for many centuries interacted with other apex predators including the wolf, birds of prey, and cormorants to hunt game animals, birds, and fish respectively. More recently, humans have started interacting with apex predators in new ways. These include ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Puma (animal)
The cougar (''Puma concolor'') (, '' KOO-gər''), also called puma, mountain lion, catamount and panther is a large small cat native to the Americas. It inhabits North, Central and South America, making it the most widely distributed wild, terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere, and one of the most widespread in the world. Its range spans the Yukon, British Columbia and Alberta provinces of Canada, the Rocky Mountains and areas in the western United States. Further south, its range extends through Mexico to the Amazon Rainforest and the southern Andes Mountains in Patagonia. It is an adaptable generalist species, occurring in most American habitat types. It prefers habitats with dense underbrush and rocky areas for stalking but also lives in open areas. The cougar is largely solitary. Its activity pattern varies from diurnality and cathemerality to crepuscularity and nocturnality between protected and non-protected areas, and is apparently correlated with the prese ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oscar Horta
Oscar Horta (born Óscar Horta Álvarez; 7 May 1974) is a Spanish animal activist and moral philosopher. He is a professor in the Department of Philosophy and Anthropology at the University of Santiago de Compostela and a co-founder of the nonprofit organisation Animal Ethics (organization), Animal Ethics. Active in vegan and antispeciesist advocacy since the mid-1990s, Horta has worked with several Spanish animal rights groups and has served on the advisory boards of international organisations concerned with animal ethics and suffering. Horta is known for his contributions to contemporary debates on speciesism, animal ethics, and the moral significance of wild animal suffering. He has argued for the moral consideration of all sentient beings and supports responsible intervention in nature to reduce suffering among wild animals. His work has been influential in shaping the academic discourse on these issues, and he is regarded as one of the leading figures in the field. In 202 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Animal Ecology
Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely related sciences of biogeography, evolutionary biology, genetics, ethology, and natural history. Ecology is a branch of biology, and is the study of abundance, biomass, and distribution of organisms in the context of the environment. It encompasses life processes, interactions, and adaptations; movement of materials and energy through living communities; successional development of ecosystems; cooperation, competition, and predation within and between species; and patterns of biodiversity and its effect on ecosystem processes. Ecology has practical applications in fields such as conservation biology, wetland management, natural resource management, and human ecology. The word ''ecology'' () was coined in 1866 by the German scientist Erns ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Animal Welfare
Animal welfare is the quality of life and overall well-being of animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures such as longevity, disease, immunosuppression, ethology, behavior, physiology, and reproduction, although there is debate about which of these best indicate animal welfare. Respect for animal welfare is often based on the belief that nonhuman animals are Sentience, sentient and that consideration should be given to their well-being or suffering, especially when they are under the care of humans. These concerns can include how animals are Animal slaughter, slaughtered for food, how they are used in Animal testing, scientific research, how they are kept (as pets, in zoos, farms, circuses, etc.), and how human activities affect the welfare and survival of wild species. There are two forms of criticism of the concept of animal welfare, comin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ecology Terminology
Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely related sciences of biogeography, evolutionary biology, genetics, ethology, and natural history. Ecology is a branch of biology, and is the study of abundance, biomass, and distribution of organisms in the context of the environment. It encompasses life processes, interactions, and adaptations; movement of materials and energy through living communities; successional development of ecosystems; cooperation, competition, and predation within and between species; and patterns of biodiversity and its effect on ecosystem processes. Ecology has practical applications in fields such as conservation biology, wetland management, natural resource management, and human ecology. The word ''ecology'' () was coined in 1866 by the German scientist Ern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
