Diet and breeding performance of the golden eagle aquila chrysaetos at the eastern and western extremities of the Pyrénées: an example of intra-population variability

• Published in: Ardeola
• Main Authors: Clouet, Michel, Gerard, Jean-Francois, Goar, Jean-Louis, Goulard, Michel, Gonzalez, Luc, Rebours, Isabelle, Fauré, Christian
• Other Authors: Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de Toulouse, Unité de recherche Comportement et Ecologie de la Faune Sauvage (CEFS), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Dynamiques Forestières dans l'Espace Rural (DYNAFOR), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-École nationale supérieure agronomique de Toulouse ENSAT -Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) (Toulouse INP), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées, Etude et protection des rapaces en Pays Basque, SAIAK
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2017
• Subjects: diversidad de dieta; influencia meteorológica; densidad; basque country; density; diet diversity; prey; weather influence; país vasco; presa; specific gravity; atmospheric conditions; diversity; pays basque; corbières; densité; condition météorologique; diversité; proie; [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio]; águila real; Aquila chrysaetos; golden eagle
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01607300; https://doi.org/10.13157/arla.64.2.2017.ra4

Diet and breeding performance show variations across species’ range and between different habitats. In the present paper, we report data on the diet and breeding performance of Golden Eagles Aquila chrysaetos monitored during a ten-year period in two semi-natural landscapes located at the eastern and western extremities of the Pyrenees mountain range. In the Mediterranean area of the Corbieres, the diet was dominated by the Rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus (31.5% of the prey items). In the Atlantic area of the Basque Country, the diet was more diverse, with the highest proportion of intra-guild predation and the highest diet breadth ever recorded for the species (Levins index of diet breadth: 12.14 vs 6.81 in the Corbieres). The proportion of successful breeding attempts was significantly higher in the Corbieres (60%) than in the Basque Country (38.5%). The same was true for mean productivity, with 0.70 and 0.45 fledglings per territory and year, respectively. These differences were partly related to the excess of snow cover in April in the Basque Country. Our results provide an example of intra-population variability in a long-lived apex predator at the extremes of a geographical gradient involving climate and prey availability. La dieta y el éxito reproductor muestra variabilidad a través de los rangos de distribución de las especies y entre hábitats. En este artículo informamos sobre la dieta y el éxito reproductor del águila real Aquila chrysaetos en un estudio de diez años en dos paisajes seminaturales localizados en los extremos oriental y occidental de los Pirineos. En el área mediterránea de las Corbières, la dieta de las águilas reales estuvo dominada por el conejo Oryctolagus cuniculus (31,5% de las presas). En el área atlántica del País Vasco, la dieta fue más diversa, con la mayor proporción de depredación intra-gremio y la mayor amplitud de dieta que se ha registrado previamente para la especie (índice de Levins para la amplitud de dieta: 12,14 vs 6,81 en las Corbières). La proporción de ...