Dietary overlap between the nocturnal letter-winged kite Elanus scriptus and barn owl Tyto alba during a rodent outbreak in arid Australia

Pavey, Chris R.; Gorman, Jessica R.; Heywood, M.

doi:10.1016/j.jaridenv.2008.07.013

Cited by 38 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Many predator species are known to adapt their diet to local prey availability and prey selection often reflects ease of capture (cf. Pavey et al, 2008;Paspali et al, 2013;Nardone et al, 2018). In our study, the RNP was an important prey for the long-eared owl, contributing over 10 % of the total volume in the diet.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 52%

'Some like it alien': predation on invasive ring–necked parakeets by the long–eared owl in an urban area

Mori

Malfatti²,

Louarn

et al. 2020

Anim. Biodiv. Conserv.

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Predation pressure by native species may limit the spread of alien invasive species, thus playing a pivotal role in the impact and implementation of management strategies. The ring–necked parakeet Psittacula krameri is one of the most widespread alien bird species in Europe, with nearly 70 established populations. Predators of this species include diurnal raptors, synanthropic corvids, and rodents. Here we report for the first time that long–eared owls Asio otus might have preyed upon parakeets in their night roosts. Analysis of 167 owl pellets showed that ring–necked parakeets made up over 10 % of the total volume of the diet of these owls in winter (32.93 % of absolute frequency), representing the most important prey species after murid rodents and passerine birds. Further studies are needed to investigate whether parakeet consumption by long–eared owls is only a local occurrence or whether it is widespread in European cities. If so, predation by long–eared owl may eventually lead to a form of parakeet control and may limit the impact of this introduced parakeet on native biodiversity.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 52%

'Some like it alien': predation on invasive ring–necked parakeets by the long–eared owl in an urban area

Mori

Malfatti²,

Louarn

et al. 2020

Anim. Biodiv. Conserv.

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“…A Southern Hemisphere close relative, the Eastern barn owl ( T. a. javanica ), is also essentially irruptive in Australia, gathering where plagues of rodents occur (Pavey et al . ). In contrast, Northern Hemisphere barn owls are much sedentary and spatially less opportunistic; although not irruptive, some show nomadic wandering in certain areas (Newton ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Effects of episodic bamboo mast seeding on top predators in the southern Andes

Ojeda

Chazarreta

2018

Austral Ecology

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Woody bamboos that undergo masting on a cyclic basis constitute large-scale endogenous disturbances in forests of America, Africa and Asia, driving long-and short-term effects on community structure and dynamics. Among the transient effects of these nonequilibrial phenomena are rodent outbreaks whose potential bottom-up consequences on top predators have never been explored. We investigated the effects of unpredictable rodent outbreaks on the assemblage of nocturnal raptors of the southern Andes after a large-scale (>140 000 ha), spatially heterogeneous, Chusquea culeou masting event in north Argentine Patagonia. We compared owl numbers and behaviours between pre-masting (2009) and post-masting (2011) at subsidized (outbreaking rodents) and unsubsidized (normal rodents) contiguous sites. Both generalist (opportunistic forest resident) and rodent-specialist (forest-facultative) owls were monitored, with emphasis on the resident territorial rufous-legged owl (Strix rufipes). The resident owls behaved as predicted, perceiving the rodent increases soon and gathering at subsidized sites, while apparently relaxing territoriality. Contrary to our predictions, later at the rodent outbreak phase, resident territorial owls turned inconspicuous, coincidingcausally or notwith an irruption of forest-facultative barn owls (Tyto alba tuidara), and influx of some open country short-eared owls (Asio flammeus suinda, some of which took a chance to breed in the woods). Considering the whole rodent outbreak period, besides significant changes in owls' numbers, we recorded a notable adjustment in owls' foraging modes in response to food surplus (consuming prey heads only), and null interference behaviours among all observed species. This study provides a first quantitative assessment of the effects of bamboo episodic masting on top carnivores globally, and contributes novel data on the indirect effects of these events in forests of South America.

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“…Resource partitioning in order to avoid competition has been observed in many other species (MacArthur 1958;Alatalo and Alatalo 1979;Torok 1990;Steen et al 2007;Cloyed 2014) and in addition to reducing diet overlap, breeding success was found to be lower in neighboring than nonneighboring pairs (Nilsson 1984;Korpimäki 1987). High diet overlap between species is not always indicative of competition over food because in years when prey are plentiful, multiple species of predators can eat the same prey species (Pavey et al 2008). However, when the prey population decreases, the diet overlap decreases, with predators switching to different prey species to avoid competition and reach their realized niches.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Competition for food between predators has attracted much attention (Newton 1998), mainly because the diet of many predators can be easily identified by observations, prey remains, and pellet analysis (Raczyński and Ruprecht 1974). This offers the opportunity to investigate the extent to which the diet of predators overlap (Jaksić 1982;Steenhof and Kochert 1985;Bosakowski and Smith 1992;Aumann and Aumann 2001;Garcia and Arroyo 2004;Pavey et al 2008;Kitowski 2013;Wiens et al 2014;Milchev 2016;Muñoz-Pedreros et al 2016), whether ecological niches change under different ecological circumstances, and whether the extent of diet overlap is associated with breeding and population numbers. Reducing diet overlap by partitioning resources is often considered a common way to avoid competition (Hardin 1960), and the differences in resource use may represent the "ghost of competition past" (Connell 1980).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relationship between intra–guild diet overlap and breeding in owls in Israel

2018

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Even though intra‐guild predators frequently prey on the same species, it is unclear whether diet overlap between two predators is a source of interspecific competition or whether predators simply use the same abundant prey resource. We measured the extent to which the diets of barn owls (Tyto alba) and long‐eared owls (Asio otus) in Israel overlap and examined whether yearly differences in diet overlap correlate with barn owl breeding success. Pianka's index of niche overlap was positively related to barn owl population size but not to its breeding success. The number of breeding barn owls was higher when long‐eared owls consumed more rodents, suggesting that diet overlap most likely increased when rodents became more abundant. Therefore, in Israel, when these two owl species prey more often on rodents, their diets are more similar and interspecific competition is reduced. Unlike sympatric populations in Europe, in years when rodents are less abundant in Israel long‐eared owls switch to hunting alternative prey (e.g., birds), perhaps to avoid competition with barn owls.

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Dietary overlap between the nocturnal letter-winged kite Elanus scriptus and barn owl Tyto alba during a rodent outbreak in arid Australia

Cited by 38 publications

References 6 publications

'Some like it alien': predation on invasive ring–necked parakeets by the long–eared owl in an urban area

'Some like it alien': predation on invasive ring–necked parakeets by the long–eared owl in an urban area

Effects of episodic bamboo mast seeding on top predators in the southern Andes

The relationship between intra–guild diet overlap and breeding in owls in Israel

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