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Table 1 Study eligibility criteria based on PICO (Population—Intervention—Comparator—Outcome) framework

From: Identifying the most effective behavioural assays and predator cues for quantifying anti-predator responses in mammals: a systematic review protocol

Population

Eligible subjects include any population of non-human terrestrial mammals (free-living, wild-caught, captive, or domesticated) from around the world. We will not include studies that have used simulated populations

Intervention

Eligible studies will use behavioural assays to quantify anti-predator behaviour in response to:

(i) Exposure to live true predators

(ii) Exposure to predator-related cues, or events that represent a proxy for predatory situations (studies with humans as the predator can be included)

Comparator

The study must contain at least one of the following comparisons [12]:

(i) A before/after comparison (BA) that investigates how anti-predator responses change before and after exposure to predators

(ii) A control/intervention comparison (CI) that compares anti-predator responses between a group exposed to the predator/s and a designated control group not exposed

(iii) A control/intervention comparison (CI) that compares anti-predator responses of individuals exposed to both a predator cue and a control treatment

(iv) A before/after/control/intervention comparison (BACI) combining the above components

Outcome

Metrics for behavioural responses will vary between assays and will be compared using standardised effect sizes (the difference in mean behavioural responses between the treatment and control conditions). To calculate standardized effect sizes (using Hedges’ g [58]), articles must provide (i) the mean response to each treatment, (ii) its corresponding variance (standard deviation, standard error or variance), and (iii) the sample size for each treatment