Dietary response of Barn Owls (Tyto alba) to large variations in populations of common voles (Microtus arvalis) and European water voles (Arvicola terrestris)
The diet of the Barn Owl ( Tyto alba (Scopoli, 1769)) was studied over an 8-year period in the Jura mountains of France, during two population surges of its main rodent prey (common voles, Microtus arvalis (Pallas, 1778), and European water voles, Arvicola terrestris (L.,1758)), allowing us to test...
Published in: | Canadian Journal of Zoology |
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Canadian Science Publishing
2010
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/z10-011 2024-05-19T07:44:03+00:00 Dietary response of Barn Owls (Tyto alba) to large variations in populations of common voles (Microtus arvalis) and European water voles (Arvicola terrestris) Bernard, Nadine Michelat, Dominique Raoul, Francis Quéré, Jean-Pierre Delattre, Pierre Giraudoux, Patrick 2010 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z10-011 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/Z10-011 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full/10.1139/Z10-011 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 88, issue 4, page 416-426 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 journal-article 2010 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/z10-011 2024-05-02T06:51:26Z The diet of the Barn Owl ( Tyto alba (Scopoli, 1769)) was studied over an 8-year period in the Jura mountains of France, during two population surges of its main rodent prey (common voles, Microtus arvalis (Pallas, 1778), and European water voles, Arvicola terrestris (L.,1758)), allowing us to test whether T. alba is an opportunistic predator as is often cited in the literature or exhibits more complex patterns of prey selection as is reported in arid environments. Small mammals were sampled by trapping and index methods. We observed (i) significant correlations between the proportions of A. terrestris, M. arvalis, and woodland rodents in the diet and their respective densities in the field; (ii) interactions between populations of A. terrestris and M. arvalis, indicating that the proportion of each species in diet was affected by the density of the other; (iii) proportions of red-toothed shrews (genus Sorex (L., 1758)) in the diet did not correlate with their abundance in the field, indicating that those species were likely to be preyed upon when others were no longer available. This confirms that T. alba is generally opportunistic; however, prey selection of a focal species (e.g., Sorex spp., grassland species) can be affected by the density or availability of the other prey species. Article in Journal/Newspaper Microtus arvalis Canadian Science Publishing Canadian Journal of Zoology 88 4 416 426 |
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Canadian Science Publishing |
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crcansciencepubl |
language |
English |
description |
The diet of the Barn Owl ( Tyto alba (Scopoli, 1769)) was studied over an 8-year period in the Jura mountains of France, during two population surges of its main rodent prey (common voles, Microtus arvalis (Pallas, 1778), and European water voles, Arvicola terrestris (L.,1758)), allowing us to test whether T. alba is an opportunistic predator as is often cited in the literature or exhibits more complex patterns of prey selection as is reported in arid environments. Small mammals were sampled by trapping and index methods. We observed (i) significant correlations between the proportions of A. terrestris, M. arvalis, and woodland rodents in the diet and their respective densities in the field; (ii) interactions between populations of A. terrestris and M. arvalis, indicating that the proportion of each species in diet was affected by the density of the other; (iii) proportions of red-toothed shrews (genus Sorex (L., 1758)) in the diet did not correlate with their abundance in the field, indicating that those species were likely to be preyed upon when others were no longer available. This confirms that T. alba is generally opportunistic; however, prey selection of a focal species (e.g., Sorex spp., grassland species) can be affected by the density or availability of the other prey species. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bernard, Nadine Michelat, Dominique Raoul, Francis Quéré, Jean-Pierre Delattre, Pierre Giraudoux, Patrick |
spellingShingle |
Bernard, Nadine Michelat, Dominique Raoul, Francis Quéré, Jean-Pierre Delattre, Pierre Giraudoux, Patrick Dietary response of Barn Owls (Tyto alba) to large variations in populations of common voles (Microtus arvalis) and European water voles (Arvicola terrestris) |
author_facet |
Bernard, Nadine Michelat, Dominique Raoul, Francis Quéré, Jean-Pierre Delattre, Pierre Giraudoux, Patrick |
author_sort |
Bernard, Nadine |
title |
Dietary response of Barn Owls (Tyto alba) to large variations in populations of common voles (Microtus arvalis) and European water voles (Arvicola terrestris) |
title_short |
Dietary response of Barn Owls (Tyto alba) to large variations in populations of common voles (Microtus arvalis) and European water voles (Arvicola terrestris) |
title_full |
Dietary response of Barn Owls (Tyto alba) to large variations in populations of common voles (Microtus arvalis) and European water voles (Arvicola terrestris) |
title_fullStr |
Dietary response of Barn Owls (Tyto alba) to large variations in populations of common voles (Microtus arvalis) and European water voles (Arvicola terrestris) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Dietary response of Barn Owls (Tyto alba) to large variations in populations of common voles (Microtus arvalis) and European water voles (Arvicola terrestris) |
title_sort |
dietary response of barn owls (tyto alba) to large variations in populations of common voles (microtus arvalis) and european water voles (arvicola terrestris) |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z10-011 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/Z10-011 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full/10.1139/Z10-011 |
genre |
Microtus arvalis |
genre_facet |
Microtus arvalis |
op_source |
Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 88, issue 4, page 416-426 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/z10-011 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Zoology |
container_volume |
88 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
416 |
op_container_end_page |
426 |
_version_ |
1799483800892211200 |