Sight, Scent, and Sound: Leveraging the Landscape of Fear for Effective Wildlife Management

This study examines the effectiveness of different types of predator cues—visual, olfactory, and acoustic—in eliciting anti-predator responses in deer, with the aim of supporting non-lethal, ecocentric management strategies for human-wildlife coexistence. As wildlife populations, including various deer and predator species, increase across the northern hemisphere, conflicts in densely populated areas have also grown, resulting in social and financial costs. Using the “applied ecology of fear” framework, which leverages fear-induced behaviours to influence prey movement, this study systematically reviews deer responses to predator cues. A total of 256 anti-predator behavioural responses were drawn from 39 peer-reviewed studies following standard meta-analysis guidelines and analysed by cue type, with responses clustered into visual, olfactory, and acoustic groups. Results revealed variation in cue efficacy, with predator acoustic cues (predator playbacks) being the most effective to elicit anti-predator responses in deer, followed by olfactory cues (faeces, urine, hair), and visual cues (photographs, body shape). These findings inform sustainable wildlife management strategies that align with ecocentric principles, offering innovative solutions for human-wildlife coexistence challenges. Further research on cue effectiveness and scalability across relevant spatial and temporal scales of conflict will refine these approaches, fostering harmonious interaction between expanding wildlife populations and human communities.