The intensity of ecological interactions is generally expected to increase at lower latitudes, suggesting potential to shape prey behavior at broad spatial scales. Yet, there is relatively limited understanding of how animal behavior varies across major environmental gradients for most taxonomic groups. In this study, I investigated behavioral response of a livebearing fish, Gambusia holbrooki, to a simulated avian predator. Fish originated from 17 populations distributed across 15° latitude. Across this latitudinal expanse, the richness of piscivorous birds varied significantly. Consistent with putative predation pressure, antipredator responses were more frequent in regions with greater inferred predation pressure. Predator richness and latitude covaried significantly across the study region, indicating a need to further disentangle drivers of behavioral evolution including potentially correlated unmeasured variables. Nonetheless, this study demonstrates the importance of environmental variation for shaping patterns of animal behavior at a broad spatial scale (2000+ km), which may be important for understanding a range of ecological processes such as disease transmission and invasion dynamics.

中文翻译：

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对模拟鸟类捕食的行为反应随自然种群的纬度和捕食强度而变化

通常预计生态相互作用的强度在低纬度地区会增加，这表明有可能在广泛的空间尺度上塑造猎物行为。然而，对于大多数分类群的动物行为如何在主要环境梯度之间变化的了解相对有限。在这项研究中，我调查了活鱼 Gambusia holbrooki 对模拟鸟类捕食者的行为反应。鱼类起源于分布在 15° 纬度的 17 个种群。在这片广袤的纬度上，食鱼鸟类的丰富度差异很大。与推定的捕食压力一致，在推断的捕食压力较大的地区，反捕食者的反应更为频繁。整个研究区域的捕食者丰富度和纬度协变显着，表明需要进一步解开行为进化的驱动因素，包括潜在相关的未测量变量。尽管如此，这项研究证明了环境变化对于在广泛的空间尺度（2000 公里以上）上塑造动物行为模式的重要性，这对于理解一系列生态过程（如疾病传播和入侵动态）可能很重要。