The Lofoten and Vesterålen archipelagos are located off the outer coast of northern Norway far from the center of the former Fennoscandian Ice Sheet and near the continental shelf edge. Existing relative sea‐level (RSL) data indicate a pronounced mid‐Holocene transgression and interesting connections with the region's prehistoric human settlement history. Here we present seven new sea‐level index points from isolation basins a...

Inducible defences against predators evolve because they reduce the rate of direct predation, but this benefit is offset by the cost (if any) of defence. If antipredator responses carry costs, the effect of predators on their prey is partitioned into two components, direct killing and risk effects. There is considerable uncertainty about the strength of risk effects, the factors that affect their strength, and the mechanisms t...

Predators can impact ecosystems through consumptive or risk effects on prey. Physiologically, risk effects can be mediated by energetic mechanisms or stress responses. The predation‐stress hypothesis predicts that risk induces stress in prey, which can affect survival and reproduction. However, empirical support for this hypothesis is both mixed and limited, and the conditions that cause predation risk to induce stress respons...

Most species adjust their behavior to reduce the likelihood of predation. Many experiments have shown that antipredator responses carry energetic costs that can affect growth, survival, and reproduction, so that the total cost of predation depends on a trade‐off between direct predation and risk effects. Despite these patterns, few field studies have examined the relationship between direct predation and the strength of antipr...

As global temperatures increase, interactions between species are affected by changes in distribution, abundance and phenology, but also by changes in behavior. The heat dissipation limitation hypothesis suggests that the ability to dissipate heat commonly limits the activity of endotherms, a problem that should be particularly acute for cursorial predators and their prey in equatorial ecosystems. Allometric relationships sugg...

Deciphering patterns of genetic variation within a species is essential for understanding population structure, local adaptation and differences in diversity between populations. Whilst neutrally evolving genetic markers can be used to elucidate demographic processes and genetic structure, they are not subject to selection and therefore are not informative about patterns of adaptive variation. As such, assessments of pertinent...

Though it is widely argued that antipredator responses carry nutritional costs, or risk effects, these costs are rarely measured in wild populations. To quantify risk effects in elk, a species that strongly responds to the presence of wolves, we noninvasively monitored diet selection and nutrient balance in wintering elk in the Upper Gallatin, Montana, USA, over three winters while quantifying the local presence of wolves at a...

Recent increases in the height and growth ring width of willow ( Salix spp.) and other woody plants in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) have been attributed to a behaviorally mediated trophic cascade from wolves ( Canis lupus ) to elk ( Cervus elaphus ) to willows. This hypothesis predicts that individual elk consume less willow in response to the presence of wolves, but this prediction has not been directly tested with...

We tested the hypothesis that sex‐biased natal dispersal reduces close inbreeding in American black bears, a solitary species that exhibits nearly complete male dispersal and female philopatry. Using microsatellite DNA and spatial data from reproductively mature bears (≥ 4 years old), we examined the spatial genetic structure of two distinct populations in New Mexico from 1993 to 2000. As predicted, relatedness ( r ) and the f...

We investigated patterns of relatedness and reproduction in a population of striped hyenas in which individuals are behaviourally solitary but form polyandrous spatial groups consisting of one adult female and multiple adult males. Group‐mate males were often close relatives, but were unrelated or distantly related in some cases, indicating that male coalitions are not strictly a result of philopatry or dispersal with cohorts...