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Evaluating the influence of diet-related variables on breeding performance and home range behaviour of a top predator

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Population Ecology

Abstract

Diet composition is linked to reproductive performance directly or indirectly by other life-history traits, including home range behaviour. The relationships between prey abundance, diet and individual fitness have often been explored. However, these relationships are complex and difficult to disentangle, especially in vertebrate top predators. Here, we present the results of a long-term study using multi-model inference procedures to elucidate the influence of diet-related variables on breeding parameters and home range behaviour of a top predator, the eagle owl Bubo bubo. Superpredation, diet diversity, rat biomass and rabbit mean weight were the most important variables when analysing reproductive parameters, suggesting that less diverse diets with greater rabbit biomass percentage may benefit reproductive performance, whereas rat biomass percentage is apparently associated with greater variation of breeding success. Earlier laying dates seem to be associated with the consumption, on average, of smaller rabbits. On the other hand, edge density was the most relevant factor determining the variation in home range behaviour, with individual characteristics, such as age and sex, also being important. Although the relative importance of the diet-related variables was generally low, mean weight of alternative prey, diet diversity and rabbit biomass also helped to explain home range parameters. In an optimal foraging context, centred on the abundance of the main prey species, our results suggest that when rabbits are less available eagle owls may increase home range size in order to obtain alternative prey, increasing at the same time their dietary diversity, which may also require higher movement speed.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the comments of David Serrano and two anonymous reviewers which improved a previous version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Labor-Laboratory of Ornithology, Instituto de Ciências Agrárias e Ambientais Mediterrânicas, Universidade de Évora-Núcleo da Mitra, Ap. 94, 7002-554, Évora, Portugal

    Rui Lourenço

  2. Department of Conservation Biology, Estación Biológica de Doñana, CSIC, c/Americo Vespucio s/n, 41092, Seville, Spain

    Maria del Mar Delgado & Vincenzo Penteriani

  3. Metapopulation Research Group, Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Maria del Mar Delgado

  4. MARE, Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, ISPA Instituto Universitário, Rua Jardim do Tabaco 34, 1149-041, Lisbon, Portugal

    Letizia Campioni

  5. Section of Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Turku, 20014, Turku, Finland

    Erkki Korpimäki

  6. Research Unit of Biodiversity (UMIB, UO-CSIC-PA), Oviedo University-Campus Mieres, 33600, Mieres, Spain

    Vincenzo Penteriani

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  1. Rui Lourenço
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  2. Maria del Mar Delgado
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  3. Letizia Campioni
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  4. Erkki Korpimäki
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  5. Vincenzo Penteriani
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Correspondence to Rui Lourenço.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. The Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (CGL2012–33240; FEDER co-financing) funded this study. R.L. (BPD/78241/2011) and L.C. (BPD/89904/2012) were supported by post-doctoral grants from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal POPH/QREN). We trapped eagle owls under Junta de Andalucía-Consejería Medio Ambiente authorizations (SCFFS-AFR/GGG RS-260/02; SCFFS-AFR/CMM RS-1904/02), ensuring the welfare of all involved animals. All authors have expressed their explicit consent for the publication of this study.

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Lourenço, R., Delgado, M.M., Campioni, L. et al. Evaluating the influence of diet-related variables on breeding performance and home range behaviour of a top predator. Popul Ecol 57, 625–636 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10144-015-0506-1

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