Food Niche Overlap of Avian Predators (Falconiformes, Strigiformes) in a Field and Forest Mosaic in Central Poland
Food niche overlap statistics are a common way to show competition for food resources in a group of animals. Niche breadths of various species are very variable and their diet composition changes reflecting prey availability. The aim of this study was to evidence the food niche overlap of the whole...
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ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2076-2615/11/2/479/ 2023-08-20T04:10:19+02:00 Food Niche Overlap of Avian Predators (Falconiformes, Strigiformes) in a Field and Forest Mosaic in Central Poland Jakub Gryz Dagny Krauze-Gryz agris 2021-02-11 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11020479 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Ecology and Conservation https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani11020479 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Animals; Volume 11; Issue 2; Pages: 479 diet composition food niche breadth pellet analysis breeding season raptors owls Text 2021 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11020479 2023-08-01T01:03:37Z Food niche overlap statistics are a common way to show competition for food resources in a group of animals. Niche breadths of various species are very variable and their diet composition changes reflecting prey availability. The aim of this study was to evidence the food niche overlap of the whole assemblage of avian predators (eight raptor and owl species, some of them reaching very high densities) in a field and forest mosaic of central Poland. The diet composition was assessed on the basis of pellet analyses and the identification of prey remains found under the nests in the breeding period. The extent of the niche overlap was calculated using a Pianka formula. The food niche overlap indices ranged from 0.02 to 0.93 (mostly below 0.5). The most separate food niche was that of the white-tailed eagle, who regularly preyed on fish. The highest niche overlap was recorded for the common buzzard and common kestrel, two species preying on field rodents, switching to soricomorphs when the former were scarce. Our results confirmed that the food niches of species coexisting in the same area were considerably separate, which is a result of preying on various prey species or searching for them in different habitats. Text White-tailed eagle MDPI Open Access Publishing Animals 11 2 479 |
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MDPI Open Access Publishing |
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language |
English |
topic |
diet composition food niche breadth pellet analysis breeding season raptors owls |
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diet composition food niche breadth pellet analysis breeding season raptors owls Jakub Gryz Dagny Krauze-Gryz Food Niche Overlap of Avian Predators (Falconiformes, Strigiformes) in a Field and Forest Mosaic in Central Poland |
topic_facet |
diet composition food niche breadth pellet analysis breeding season raptors owls |
description |
Food niche overlap statistics are a common way to show competition for food resources in a group of animals. Niche breadths of various species are very variable and their diet composition changes reflecting prey availability. The aim of this study was to evidence the food niche overlap of the whole assemblage of avian predators (eight raptor and owl species, some of them reaching very high densities) in a field and forest mosaic of central Poland. The diet composition was assessed on the basis of pellet analyses and the identification of prey remains found under the nests in the breeding period. The extent of the niche overlap was calculated using a Pianka formula. The food niche overlap indices ranged from 0.02 to 0.93 (mostly below 0.5). The most separate food niche was that of the white-tailed eagle, who regularly preyed on fish. The highest niche overlap was recorded for the common buzzard and common kestrel, two species preying on field rodents, switching to soricomorphs when the former were scarce. Our results confirmed that the food niches of species coexisting in the same area were considerably separate, which is a result of preying on various prey species or searching for them in different habitats. |
format |
Text |
author |
Jakub Gryz Dagny Krauze-Gryz |
author_facet |
Jakub Gryz Dagny Krauze-Gryz |
author_sort |
Jakub Gryz |
title |
Food Niche Overlap of Avian Predators (Falconiformes, Strigiformes) in a Field and Forest Mosaic in Central Poland |
title_short |
Food Niche Overlap of Avian Predators (Falconiformes, Strigiformes) in a Field and Forest Mosaic in Central Poland |
title_full |
Food Niche Overlap of Avian Predators (Falconiformes, Strigiformes) in a Field and Forest Mosaic in Central Poland |
title_fullStr |
Food Niche Overlap of Avian Predators (Falconiformes, Strigiformes) in a Field and Forest Mosaic in Central Poland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Food Niche Overlap of Avian Predators (Falconiformes, Strigiformes) in a Field and Forest Mosaic in Central Poland |
title_sort |
food niche overlap of avian predators (falconiformes, strigiformes) in a field and forest mosaic in central poland |
publisher |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11020479 |
op_coverage |
agris |
genre |
White-tailed eagle |
genre_facet |
White-tailed eagle |
op_source |
Animals; Volume 11; Issue 2; Pages: 479 |
op_relation |
Ecology and Conservation https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani11020479 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11020479 |
container_title |
Animals |
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11 |
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2 |
container_start_page |
479 |
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1774724428456787968 |