Antipredator behavior and the asset-protection principle

Abstract

Many species of animals face the continual problem of balancing the trade-off between reducing predation risks and maintaining or increasing their reproductive fitness. The terms of the trade-off are often asymmetric: each separate behavioral decision may lead to only a marginal increase in fitness, but may place the organism's entire future reproduction in jeopardy. Consequently, the organism's reproductive value is an important component of most antipredator decision problems. In this paper reproductive value is considered as an asset in need of protection. The “asset-protection principle” states that the larger the current reproductive asset, the more important it becomes to protect it. Because reproductive value is usually age and condition dependent, optimal antipredator behavior also often depends on these variables. I use a uniform modeling technique (dynamic programming) to address a variety of issues related to antipredator behavior