Abstract
Many predator species feed on prey that fluctuates in abundance from year to year. Birds of prey can face large fluctuations in food abundance i.e. small mammals, especially voles. These annual changes in prey abundance strongly affect the reproductive success and mortality of the individual predators and thus can be expected to influence their population dynamics and persistence. The barn owl, for example, shows large fluctuations in breeding success that correlate with the dynamics in voles, their main prey species. Analysis of the impact of fluctuations in vole abundance (their amplitude, peaks and lows, cycle length and regularity) with a simple predator prey model parameterized with literature data indicates population persistence is especially affected by years with low vole abundance. In these years the population can decline to low owl numbers such that the ensuing peak vole years cannot be exploited. This result is independent of the length and regularity of vole fluctuations. The relevance of this result for conservation of the barn owl and other birds of prey that show a numerical response to fluctuating prey species is discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Altwegg R, Roulin A, Kestenholz M et al (2003) Variation and covariation in survival, dispersal, and population size in barn owls Tyto alba. J Anim Ecol 72:391–399
Altwegg R, Roulin A, Kestenholz M et al (2006) Demographic effects of extreme winter weather on the barn owl. Oecologia 149:44–51
Altwegg R, Saub M, Roulin A (2007) Age-specific fitness components and their temporal variation in the Barn owl. Am Nat 169:47–61
Brommer JE, Pietiänen H, Kolunen H (1998) The effect of age at first breeding on the Ural owl lifetime reproductive success and fitness under cyclic food conditions. J Anim Ecol 67:359–369
Carey AB, Reid JA, Horton SP (1990) Spotted owl home range and habitat use in southern Oregon Coast Ranges (USA). J Wildlife Manage 54:11–17
Caswell H (2001) Matrix population models, 2nd edn. Sinauer Associates, Inc, Sunderland, MA
Cayford JT (1990) The Barn Owl Tyto alba. In: Batten LA, Bibby CJ, Clement P, Elliott GD, Porter RF (eds) Red data birds in Britain; action for rare, threatened and important species. Poyser, London
Cramp S (1985) The birds of the Western Palearctic, vol IV. Oxford University Press, Oxford
De Bruijn O (1994) Population ecology and conservation of the Barn Owl Tyto alba in farmland habitats in Liemers and Achterhoek (The Netherlands). Ardea 82:1–109
Delattre P, De Sousa B, Fichet-Calvet E et al (1999) Vole outbreaks in a landscape context: evidence from six year study of Mictotus arvalis. Landscape Ecol 14:401–412
Del Hoyo J, Elliott A, Sargatal J (1994) Handbook of the birds of the world, vol 2. New world vultures to guinea fowl. Lynx Editions, Barcelona
Del Hoyo J, Elliott A, Sargatal J (1999) Handbook of the birds of the world. Barn-owls to hummingbirds. Lynx Editions, Barcelona
Diamond J (1989) Overview of recent extinctions. In: Western D, Pearl M (eds) Conservation for the twenty-first century. Oxford University Press, New York
Dyczkowski J, Yalden DW (1998) An estimate of the impact of predators on the British field vole Microtus agrestis population. Mammal Rev 28:165–184
Glutz von Blotzheim UN, Bauer KM (1980) Handbuch der Vögel Mitteleuropas, vol 9. Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft, Wiesbaden
Hanski I (2005) The shrinking world: ecological consequences of habitat loss. International Ecology Institute Luhe, Germany
Hansson L, Henttonen H (1988) Rodent dynamics as community processes. Trends Ecol Evol 3:195–200
Hone J, Sibly RM (2002) Demographic, mechanistic and density-dependent determinants of population growth rate: a case study in an avian predator. Phil Trans R Soc Lond B 356:1171–1177
Honer MR (1963) Observations on the Barn Owl in The Netherlands in relation to its ecology and population fluctuations. Ardea 51:158–195
Jędrzejewski W, Jędrzejewska B (1996) Rodent cycles in relation to biomass and productivity of ground vegetation and predation in the Palearctic. Acta Theriol 41:1–34
Kaus D (1977) Zur Populationsdynamik, Ökologie und Brutbiologie der Schleiereule Tyto alba in Franken. Anz ornithol Geschells Bayern 16:18–44
Klok C, de Roos AM (1998) Effects of habitat size and quality on equilibrium density and extinction time of Sorex araneus populations. J Anim Ecol 67:195–209
Kooijman SALM (2000) Dynamic energy and mass budgets in biological systems. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Korpimäki E, Krebs CJ (1996) Predation and population cycles of small mammals. A reassessment of the predation hypothesis. BioScience 46:754–764
Korpimäki E, Norrdahl K (1991) Numerical and functional responses of kestrels, short-eared owls, and long-eared owls to vole densities. Ecology 72:814–826
Krebs CJ, Myers JH (1974) Population cycles in small mammals. Adv Ecol Res 8:267–399
Kuznetsov Y (1995) Elements of applied bifurcation theory. Applied mathematical sciences, vol 112. Springer, New York
Lande R (1993) Risks of population extinction from demographic and environmental stochasticity and random catastrophes. Am Nat 142:911–927
Lande R, Engen S, Saether B-E (2003) Stochastic population dynamics in ecology and conservation. Oxford Series in Ecology and Evolution, Oxford
Lindström ER (1994) Vole cycles, snow depth and fox predation. Oikos 70:156–160
Mackin-Rogalska R, Nabagło L (1990) Geographical variation in cyclic periodicity and synchrony in the common vole, Microtus arvalis. Oikos 59:343–348
Miller GS, Small RJ, Meslow EC (1997) Habitat selection by spotted owls during natal dispersal in western Oregon. J Wildlife Manage 61:140–150
Newton I, Wyllie, RF, Dale L (1997) Mortality causes in British barn owls based on 1101 carcasses examined during 1963–96. In: Proceedings of 2nd owl symposium: biology and conservation of owls of the northern hemisphere. United States Department of Agriculture General Technical Report NC-190, Winnipeg, Canada
Norrdahl K, Korpimäki E (1996) Do nomadic avian predators synchronize population fluctuations of small mammals? A field experiment. Oecologia 107:478–483
Pimm SL, Russel GJ, Gittleman JL et al (1995) The future of biodiversity. Science 269:347–350
Salamolard M, Butet A, Leroux A et al (2000) Responses of an avian predator to variations in prey density at a temperate latitude. Ecology 81:2428–2441
Sauter U (1956) Beiträge zur Ökologie der Schleiereule nach Ringfunden. Die Vogelwarte 18:109–151
Schönfeld M, Girbig G (1975) Beiträge zur Brutbiologie der Schleiereule, Tyto alba, unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Abhängigkeit von der Feldmausdichte. Hercynia 3:257–319
Shaffer ML (1981) Minimum population sizes for species conservation. BioScience 31:131–134
Sharrock JTR, Sharrock EM (1976) Rare birds in Britain and Ireland. Poyser, Berkhamsted
Shawyer CR (1987) The barn owl in the British Isles: its past, present and future. The Hawk Trust, London
Snow DW, Perrins CM (1998) The birds of the western Palearctic, vol 1. Non-Passerines. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Solis DM Jr, Gutierrez RJ (1990) Summer habitat ecology of northern spotted owls in northwestern California (USA). Condor 92:739–748
Solomon ME (1949) The natural control of animal populations. J Anim Ecol 18:1–35
Taylor IR (1994) Barn owls predator-prey relationships and conservation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Taylor IR, Dowell A, Shaw G (1992) The population ecology and conservation of Barn Owls Tyto alba in coniferous plantations. In: Galbraith CA, Taylor IR, Percival S (eds) The ecology and conservation of European owls. Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough
Thomas JAI, Telfer MG, Roy DB et al (2004) Comparative losses of British butterflies, birds, and plants and the global extinction crisis. Science 303:1879–1881
Toms MP (1994) Small mammals in agricultural landscapes. The Raptor 21:57–59
Toms MP, Crick HQP, Shawyer CR (2001) The status of breeding Barn owls Tyto alba in the United kingdom 1995–96. Bird Study 48:23–37
Acknowledgements
We thank Onno De Bruijn and three anonymous referees for their valuable comments on an earlier version of this paper.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Klok, C., de Roos, A.M. Effects of vole fluctuations on the population dynamics of the barn owl Tyto alba . Acta Biotheor 55, 227–241 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10441-007-9013-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10441-007-9013-x