Dataset for manuscript by Grant et. al. Title: Visit, investigate, ignore: olfactory misinformation reduces browsing damage to valued seedlings by a mammalian herbivore

Abstract

Foraging by mammalian herbivores critically impacts threatened plants and ecosystems globally, resulting in numerous conservation challenges. Like many animals, herbivores rely on odour cues for efficient foraging. When ‘misinformation’, i.e. misleading odour cues, degrade the reliability of odour information, foraging efficiency often declines. How browsing mammalian herbivores respond to olfactory misinformation is unknown, but of interest, given their impacts. Using an Australian plant-herbivore system, we tested whether olfactory misinformation altered the behaviour of wild herbivores foraging for a preferred plant. Swamp wallabies (Wallabia bicolor) are the ecological equivalent of deer and browse Eucaluptus seedlings, the foundation genus of many forests and woodlands. We deployed odour from inaccessible leaves surrounding focal seedlings, reducing the reliability that the odour would predict the plant’s location. Seedlings surrounded by unrewarding odour were 80% less likely than controls to be browsed over two weeks, despite wallabies encountering them at similar rates. These results suggest that misinformation interferes with the ability of herbivores to recognise target plants as desirable food sources. The strategic use of olfactory misinformation represents a practical, non-lethal strategy which harnesses the natural foraging behaviours of mammalian herbivores to decrease their browsing pressure and mitigate their impact on vulnerable plants and ecosystems.