‘Fear Itself’ Appears to Threaten Reproduction in Wildlife Prey

As you might expect, wild animals living in natural ecosystems seldom fit into the tidy controls and parameters preferred in scientific studies. That research hurdle leaves many unknown variables in the field of wildlife management, where elements such as predator-prey ratio can mean life or death for vulnerable species. But new research is expanding our understanding of the fear response in prey, which is a natural reaction to predator encounters. A recent experiment found that fear can have substantial adverse effects on reproduction and long-term population rates.