The landscape of fear conceptual framework: definition and review of current applications and misuses

• Main Author: Sonny S. Bleicher
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: PeerJ Inc. 2017-09-01
• Series: PeerJ
• Subjects: Animal behavior; Habitat selection; Yellowstone; Giving-up density (GUD); Spatial ecology; Evolutionary dynamics
• Online Access: https://peerj.com/articles/3772.pdf

Landscapes of Fear (LOF), the spatially explicit distribution of perceived predation risk as seen by a population, is increasingly cited in ecological literature and has become a frequently used “buzz-word”. With the increase in popularity, it became necessary to clarify the definition for the term, suggest boundaries and propose a common framework for its use. The LOF, as a progeny of the “ecology of fear” conceptual framework, defines fear as the strategic manifestation of the cost-benefit analysis of food and safety tradeoffs. In addition to direct predation risk, the LOF is affected by individuals’ energetic-state, inter- and intra-specific competition and is constrained by the evolutionary history of each species. Herein, based on current applications of the LOF conceptual framework, I suggest the future research in this framework will be directed towards: (1) finding applied management uses as a trait defining a population’s habitat-use and habitat-suitability; (2) studying multi-dimensional distribution of risk-assessment through time and space; (3) studying variability between individuals within a population; (4) measuring eco-neurological implications of risk as a feature of environmental heterogeneity and (5) expanding temporal and spatial scales of empirical studies.