Protection by deception: from predator behavior to predator–prey dynamics

One of the most difficult conservation problems is to deal with predators when the prey populations cannot cope with them. Reducing predation on endangered prey by killing the predators is laborious and creates conflicts over animal rights. There is therefore a worldwide need for alternative solutions. We test two such approaches for protecting endangered waterfowl in boreal wetlands. We will test whether we can make predators stop foraging on waterfowl nests by deceiving them to believe either that waterfowl odour in the environment does not lead to food (“chemical camouflage”) or that bird eggs are not edible food. Using demographic models, we analyze the impacts of different predator management actions on local waterfowl population growth. Finally, by analyzing unique long-term data on both waterfowl and predator numbers, are relating them to environmental data, we scale-up the predictions of predator management efforts to a large spatial scale.