Landscapes of Fear: Spatial Patterns of Risk Perception and Response

Animals experience varying levels of predation risk as they navigate heterogeneous landscapes, and behavioral responses to perceived risk can structure ecosystems. The concept of the landscape of fear has recently become central to describing this spatial variation in risk, perception, and response. We present a framework linking the landscape of fear, defined as spatial variation in prey perception of risk, to the underlying physical landscape and predation risk, and to resulting patterns of prey distribution and antipredator behavior. By disambiguating the mechanisms through which prey perceive risk and incorporate fear into decision making, we can better quantify the nonlinear relationship between risk and response and evaluate the relative importance of the landscape of fear across taxa and ecosystems. Recent technological advances have provided unprecedented insights into the movement and behavior of animals on heterogeneous landscapes. Some studies have indicated that spatial variation in predation risk plays a major role in prey decision making, which can ultimately structure ecosystems. The concept of the ‘landscape of fear’ was introduced in 2001 and has been widely adopted to describe spatial variation predation risk, risk perception, and response. However, increasingly divergent interpretations of its meaning and application now cloud understanding and synthesis, and at least 15 distinct processes and states have been described as landscapes of fear. Here, we refocus the definition of the landscape of fear as an animal’s perception of spatial variation in predation risk. Predation risk, the landscape of fear, and prey antipredator responses map imperfectly onto each other, due to ecological constraints and trade-offs. The relative importance of the landscape of fear in shaping population dynamics and species interactions varies across systems, and human activity is altering and creating new landscapes of fear for wild animals.