Lifting the veil of darkness: escape ecology by night

Flight-Initiation Distance (FID) – a direct and standardised measure of an individual animals escape response – is a widely used method to study escape ecology among a diversity of fauna. The technique has primarily been applied to bird species that are active by day. Indexing the escape behaviour of nocturnal species has been limited due to the need for light to detect and observe animals which confounds behavioural responses. We have developed a standardised, un-biased method for conducting nocturnal FIDs which is starting to “illuminate” nocturnal fear ecology. We have collected 1,469 nighttime FIDs of 34 mammal species and four bird species spanning large charismatic species (Eastern Grey Kangaroo Macropus giganteus), medium-sized cryptic species White-spotted Chevrotain Moschiola meminna) and small mammals (Swamp Rat Rattus lutreolus).We have subsequently used this method to: 1) assess escape response differences in crepuscular or cathemeral species by daytime and nighttime; 2) determine escape response differences in threatened species between different invasive predator and competitor regimes; 3) explore the impacts of artificial light at night and urbanisation on escape responses; and 4) develop guidelines for the appropriate use of light at night. With the majority of mammal species nocturnal, understanding how these species manage predator risk, especially during times when invasive predators are most active, remains a substantive knowledge gap.