The White-Tailed Eagle, the Apex Predator, Adjusts Diet towards Larger Prey in Suboptimal Territories
The White-tailed eagle, an apex predator, is currently recovering its populations across Europe and has already reached high numbers in many countries. This led to the saturation of eagles in optimal habitats and their encroachment on suboptimal ones. We aimed to compare the diet of White-tailed eag...
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ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/1424-2818/15/6/747/ 2023-08-20T04:10:19+02:00 The White-Tailed Eagle, the Apex Predator, Adjusts Diet towards Larger Prey in Suboptimal Territories Paweł Mirski Ervin Komar agris 2023-06-06 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/d15060747 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Animal Diversity https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/d15060747 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Diversity; Volume 15; Issue 6; Pages: 747 Haliaaetus albicilla alternative prey habitat suitability superpredation trail cameras Text 2023 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/d15060747 2023-08-01T10:22:57Z The White-tailed eagle, an apex predator, is currently recovering its populations across Europe and has already reached high numbers in many countries. This led to the saturation of eagles in optimal habitats and their encroachment on suboptimal ones. We aimed to compare the diet of White-tailed eagles in optimal and suboptimal conditions in northeastern Poland to investigate how population development affected prey composition, which is expected to be lacking in suboptimal eagle territories. We have monitored eagle nests with trail cameras to investigate their diet objectively and precisely. In order to compare territories of different quality, we have conducted modeling of habitat suitability using data on nest locations prior to their saturation. Using recorded photos of the prey, we measured their size and estimated their weight to check if the size and biomass of the prey are comparable between optimal and suboptimal territories. We found that eagles in the latter conditions were not limited by prey biomass but turned to alternative prey and brought larger prey. The alternative prey were large birds such as White storks and Common cranes, but also chicks of other avian predators that were robbed from their nests. Most probably, eagles cope with a lack of optimal prey by ranging farther and exploring non-optimal foraging habitats. We conclude that the diet flexibility of White-tailed eagle enables him to still increase its numbers despite already high densities. Our study also shows that this species might possibly impact the White stork population, as seen in the case of the Black stork and some seabird species. Text White-tailed eagle MDPI Open Access Publishing Diversity 15 6 747 |
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MDPI Open Access Publishing |
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English |
topic |
Haliaaetus albicilla alternative prey habitat suitability superpredation trail cameras |
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Haliaaetus albicilla alternative prey habitat suitability superpredation trail cameras Paweł Mirski Ervin Komar The White-Tailed Eagle, the Apex Predator, Adjusts Diet towards Larger Prey in Suboptimal Territories |
topic_facet |
Haliaaetus albicilla alternative prey habitat suitability superpredation trail cameras |
description |
The White-tailed eagle, an apex predator, is currently recovering its populations across Europe and has already reached high numbers in many countries. This led to the saturation of eagles in optimal habitats and their encroachment on suboptimal ones. We aimed to compare the diet of White-tailed eagles in optimal and suboptimal conditions in northeastern Poland to investigate how population development affected prey composition, which is expected to be lacking in suboptimal eagle territories. We have monitored eagle nests with trail cameras to investigate their diet objectively and precisely. In order to compare territories of different quality, we have conducted modeling of habitat suitability using data on nest locations prior to their saturation. Using recorded photos of the prey, we measured their size and estimated their weight to check if the size and biomass of the prey are comparable between optimal and suboptimal territories. We found that eagles in the latter conditions were not limited by prey biomass but turned to alternative prey and brought larger prey. The alternative prey were large birds such as White storks and Common cranes, but also chicks of other avian predators that were robbed from their nests. Most probably, eagles cope with a lack of optimal prey by ranging farther and exploring non-optimal foraging habitats. We conclude that the diet flexibility of White-tailed eagle enables him to still increase its numbers despite already high densities. Our study also shows that this species might possibly impact the White stork population, as seen in the case of the Black stork and some seabird species. |
format |
Text |
author |
Paweł Mirski Ervin Komar |
author_facet |
Paweł Mirski Ervin Komar |
author_sort |
Paweł Mirski |
title |
The White-Tailed Eagle, the Apex Predator, Adjusts Diet towards Larger Prey in Suboptimal Territories |
title_short |
The White-Tailed Eagle, the Apex Predator, Adjusts Diet towards Larger Prey in Suboptimal Territories |
title_full |
The White-Tailed Eagle, the Apex Predator, Adjusts Diet towards Larger Prey in Suboptimal Territories |
title_fullStr |
The White-Tailed Eagle, the Apex Predator, Adjusts Diet towards Larger Prey in Suboptimal Territories |
title_full_unstemmed |
The White-Tailed Eagle, the Apex Predator, Adjusts Diet towards Larger Prey in Suboptimal Territories |
title_sort |
white-tailed eagle, the apex predator, adjusts diet towards larger prey in suboptimal territories |
publisher |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/d15060747 |
op_coverage |
agris |
genre |
White-tailed eagle |
genre_facet |
White-tailed eagle |
op_source |
Diversity; Volume 15; Issue 6; Pages: 747 |
op_relation |
Animal Diversity https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/d15060747 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/d15060747 |
container_title |
Diversity |
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15 |
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6 |
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747 |
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1774724427816108032 |