Dr. Theodore Stankowich – Postdoctoral Scientist & Lecturer

University of Massachusetts, Amherst Ted Stankowich

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Research Interests                                                                          

Predation, or the threat of predation, has profoundly influenced both the evolution and ecology of the behavior and morphology of many animal species.  Cryptic coloration, the evolution of weapons, rapid recognition, and finely tuned antipredator behaviors are all evidence of the strong selection pressures imposed by predators.  To better understand the evolution of antipredator strategies, I strive to integrate ideas from ecology, psychology, and behavioral ecology.  I use a range of methods, including behavioral experiments in the lab and field, correlative phylogenetic analyses, and meta-analyses, and study taxa ranging from ungulates to spiders.  This multifaceted approach has helped me to better understand (1) how animals perceive potential threats in their environment, assess the level of threat that they pose, and decide when to defend themselves or flee, and (2) how historical environments shaped the evolution of traits we see today.  My work has shown that animals are capable of using complex decision rules and attending to a large number of environmental, predatory, and physiological factors during risk assessment.

My interest in antipredator behavior drives the research questions I ask and systems I work in.  Using different model systems, I study how different aspects of an animal’s biology affect the decisions it makes when confronted by a predator, and I aim to integrate studies of cognition, predator-prey ecology, behavior, and wildlife management.  I believe these links will seed the field of animal behavior with new insights and provide insights into how we can manage wild populations of animals from the perspective of the individual animal living in a landscape of fear. 

Current Research Projects

Escape Theory and the Decision to Flee

Numerous studies have found that during encounters with predators, animals make an economic decision of when to flee, weighing the costs of fleeing against the benefits of staying.  My work looks at which factors influence the decision to flee, the cognitive processes involved in risk assessment, and how experience with humans affects wildlife responses to recreationists.  Collaborators: Daniel Blumstein (UCLA), Esteban Fernandez-Juricic (Purdue Univ.), Richard Coss (UC Davis), William Cooper (Indiana Univ.)

Antipredator Behavior in Jumping Spiders

Working in the lab of Dr. Elizabeth Jakob at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, I am conducting experiments on flight decisions and escape behaviors of two species of jumping spiders (Family Salticidae): Phidippus audax and P. princeps.  I am interested in exploring how a generalist predator deals with potential threats in its environment and how behavioral syndromes affect antipredator responses to familiar and novel predators.  Collaborators: Elizabeth Jakob (UMass Amherst)

Predator Recognition under Relaxed Selection

When a predator becomes locally extinct, the selection on prey to retain visual recognition patterns for that predator becomes relaxed, and prey often lose the ability to recognize predators that have been extinct for hundreds or thousands of years.  Using artificial predator models, this research tests the ability of prey to recognize former predators that have been absent from the population for short or long periods of time.  Collaborators: Richard Coss (UC Davis), Daniel Blumstein (UCLA)

Co-Evolution of Antipredator Behavior and Morphology

I am interested in how certain antipredator behaviors and morphological characters co-evolve, or how the presence of one influences the other. I am working with collaborators on phylogenetic analyses of antipredator behavior, coloration, and physical defenses in ungulates and mustelids in hopes of discovering what morphological and environmental factors facilitate the evolution of antipredator behavior.  Collaborators: Tim Caro (UC Davis), Philip Bergmann (Univ. Arizona)

If you are interested in using photographic predator models like the ones seen here in your research project , I can build inexpensive, lightweight, durable models of most any species. Please contact me via e-mail to discuss a potential collaboration and to talk about your project and needs.

Publications (PDF reprints available via links below)

19. Caro, T. M. & Stankowich, T. In Press. The function of contrasting pelage markings in Artiodactyls. Behavioral Ecology.

18. Stankowich, T. & Caro, T. M. 2009. Evolution of weaponry in female bovids. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 276, 4329-4334.
--Covered in Nature - Research Highlights
--Covered in New Scientist
--Official UMASS Press Release

17. Stankowich, T. 2010 - In Press. Defensive Risk-Taking in Animals. In: The Encyclopedia of Animal Behaviour, (Breed, M., Moore, J., eds-in-chief; Stankowich, T., ed.) Elsevier.

16. Fernández-Juricic, E., Zahn, E.F., Parker, T., Stankowich, T. 2009. Tolerance to pedestrian disturbance of the California endangered Belding's Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis beldingi). Avian Conservation and Ecology, 4(2), 1 [online]. REPRINT

15. Blumstein, D.T., Ferando, E., Stankowich, T. 2009. A test of the multi-predator hypothesis: Yellow-bellied marmots respond fearfully to the sight of novel and extinct predators. Animal Behaviour, 78, 873-878. REPRINT
--Covered in Science - Random Samples

14. Stankowich, T. 2009. When predators become prey: flight decisions in jumping spiders. Behavioral Ecology, 20(2), 318-327.

13. Stankowich, T. 2009. Invited review (The Better to Eat You With: Fear in the Animal World, Berger 2008). Quarterly Review of Biology, 84(3), 298.

12. Stankowich, T. 2008. Ungulate flight responses to human disturbance: a review and meta-analysis. Biological Conservation, 141(9), 2159-2173. REPRINT

11. Stankowich, T. 2008. Tail-flicking, tail-flagging, and tail position in ungulates with special reference to black-tailed deer. Ethology, 114(9), 875-885. REPRINT

10. Stankowich, T. & Coss, R. G. 2008. Alarm walking in Columbian black-tailed deer: its characterization and possible antipredatory signaling functions. Journal of Mammalogy, 89(3), 636-645. REPRINT

9. Stankowich, T. 2008. Invited Review (Quantifying Behavior the JWatcher Way, Blumstein & Daniel 2007). Integrative and Comparative Biology, 48(3), 437-439.

8. Stankowich, T. & Coss, R. G. 2007. Effects of risk assessment, predator behavior, and habitat on escape behavior in Columbian blacktailed deer. Behavioral Ecology, 18(2), 358-367. REPRINT

7. Stankowich, T. & Coss, R. G. 2007. The re-emergence of felid camouflage with the decay of predator recognition in deer under relaxed selection. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 274, 175-182. REPRINT

6. Stankowich, T. & Coss, R. G. 2006. Effects of predator behavior and proximity on risk assessment in Columbian blacktailed deer. Behavioral Ecology, 17(2), 246-254, COVER PHOTOGRAPH. REPRINT

5. Stankowich, T. & Blumstein, D. T. 2005. Fear in animals: a meta-analysis and review of risk assessment. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 272, 2627-2634. REPRINT; ONLINE APPENDIX

4. Stankowich, T. 2003. Marginal predation methodologies and the importance of predator preferences. Animal Behaviour, 66, 589-599. REPRINT

3. Stankowich, T. 2003. Invited Review (The African Wild Dog, Creel & Creel 2002). Ethology, 109, 613-616.

2. Stankowich, T. & Sherman, P.W. 2002. Pup shoving behavior in adult naked mole rats. Ethology, 108, 975-992. REPRINT

1. Bell, A. M., Davis, J. M., Debose, J. L., Johnson, J. C., Long, S. L., Mabry, K. E., Stankowich, T. & Watters, J. V. 2002. Greatest hits in behavioral ecology. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 17, 296.