Evaluating the influence of diet‐related variables on breeding performance and home range behaviour of a top predator

Population Ecology - 2015
Rui Lourenço1, María del Mar Delgado2,3, Letizia Campioni4, Erkki Korpimäki5, Vincenzo Penteriani2,6
1Labor-Laboratory of Ornithology, Instituto de Ciências Agrárias e Ambientais Mediterrânicas, Universidade de Évora-Núcleo da Mitra, Ap. 94, 7002-554 Évora, Portugal
2Department of Conservation Biology, Estación Biológica de Doñana, CSIC, c/Americo Vespucio s/n, 41092 Seville, Spain
3Metapopulation Research Group, Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
4MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, ISPA – Instituto Universitário, Rua Jardim do Tabaco 34, 1149-041, Lisbon, Portugal
5Section of Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland
6Research Unit of Biodiversity (UMIB, UO-CSIC-PA), Oviedo University-Campus Mieres, 33600 Mieres, Spain

Tóm tắt

Abstract

Diet composition is linked to reproductive performance directly or indirectly by other life‐history traits, including home range behaviour. The relationships between prey abundance, diet and individual fitness have often been explored. However, these relationships are complex and difficult to disentangle, especially in vertebrate top predators. Here, we present the results of a long‐term study using multi‐model inference procedures to elucidate the influence of diet‐related variables on breeding parameters and home range behaviour of a top predator, the eagle owl Bubo bubo. Superpredation, diet diversity, rat biomass and rabbit mean weight were the most important variables when analysing reproductive parameters, suggesting that less diverse diets with greater rabbit biomass percentage may benefit reproductive performance, whereas rat biomass percentage is apparently associated with greater variation of breeding success. Earlier laying dates seem to be associated with the consumption, on average, of smaller rabbits. On the other hand, edge density was the most relevant factor determining the variation in home range behaviour, with individual characteristics, such as age and sex, also being important. Although the relative importance of the diet‐related variables was generally low, mean weight of alternative prey, diet diversity and rabbit biomass also helped to explain home range parameters. In an optimal foraging context, centred on the abundance of the main prey species, our results suggest that when rabbits are less available eagle owls may increase home range size in order to obtain alternative prey, increasing at the same time their dietary diversity, which may also require higher movement speed.

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Population Ecology

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