Coexistence of protected avian predators

• Published in: European Journal of Wildlife Research
• Main Authors: Treinys, Rimgaudas, Dementavičius, Deivis, Mozgeris, Gintautas, Skuja, Saulis, Rumbutis, Saulius, Stončius, Darius
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Habitat; Overlap; Avian predator; Coexistence; Conservation; Haliaeetus albicilla; White-tailed eagle; Pandion haliaetus
• Online Access: http://lmavb.lvb.lt/LMAVB:ELABAPDB5925883&prefLang=en_US

The processes of competition and predation determine the degree to which species can coexist; the importance of competition in particular has been emphasized at high trophic levels. Competition exclusion will occur when habitat overlap between sympatric species is high. In this study, we investigated nesting habitat overlap between internationally protected diurnal tree-nesting avian predators of central Europe, namely, White-tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla), Lesser Spotted Eagle (Aquila pomarina), Black Stork (Ciconia nigra), and Osprey (Pandion haliaetus). We found significantly different nesting habitats among the study species and suggest that this could be a consequence of the resource-based segregation, but not a consequence of asymmetrical interspecific competition. The results also show that habitat of the recovering populations of White-tailed Eagle overlapped with the habitat used by the Lesser Spotted Eagle, Black Stork, and Osprey to varying extents with a niche overlap values being below the competition exclusion threshold. Nevertheless, we suggest that competition by White-tailed Eagle at a population level may limit Osprey, though not Lesser Spotted Eagle or Black Stork.