Barn Owl (Tyto alba) Diet Composition on Intensively Used Agricultural Land in the Danube Lowland

Abstract

Based on pellets analysis from five localities in south western Slovakia (Malá Mužla, Malé Ripňany, Obid, Opatovský Sokolec and Tešedíkovo), we studied the diet composition of Barn Owl (Tyto alba) in intensively cultivated agricultural lands. A total of 6218 specimens of prey, 17 mammalian and 7 bird species were identified. The main prey species found in all food samples was the Common Vole (Microtus arvalis), varying between 56 % and 67 %. The proportion of synanthropic species (Rattus norvegicus, Passer domesticus) and species inhabiting agricultural landscapes (Crocidura leucodon, Crocidura suaveolens, Mus sp.) increases in localities with a lower ratio of the Common Vole. The results suggest land use affects the diet of Barn Owls, confirming conclusions which have been drawn in previous studies. From faunistic point of view, discovering the Pannonian Root Vole (Microtus oeconomus mehelyi) in the diet from Malá Mužla was important.

Food-niche pattern of the Barn Owl(Tyto alba)in intensively cultivated agricultural landscape

“…Our results are in accordance with other studies conducted in Europe (e.g. Milchev 2015, Veselovský et al 2017, in South-America (Leveau et al 2006, Gonzalez-Fischer et al 2011, Teta et al 2012, and in North-America (Marti et al 1988(Marti et al , 2010 which reported that the dominance of small mammals, particularly the high frequency of an available and profitable prey in the diet, explained the low values of niche breadth. Our results confirmed that the food niche breadth of Barn Owls was significantly higher in an urban landscape, caused by the decrease of predominant Microtus voles as main prey items (Hindmarch & Elliott 2015) and by the increase of commensal rodents (rats, house mice) as alternative prey which are associated with human activities (Salvati et al 2002, Teta et al 2012, Hindmarch & Elliott 2015.…”

“…According to our results the greatest proportion of Striped Field Mouse in pellet samples of urban land reflected the relatedness of this species with urban and suburban habitat patches. We found that the Common Vole was the most abundant prey in each of the landscape types considered, the same predominance having been reported by other studies in central Europe (Goszczyński 1977, Horváth et al 2005, Kitowski 2013, Petrovici et al 2013, Purger 2014, Veselovský et al 2017. Despite this general predominance, the significant heterogeneity of overall proportion values proved that the consumption frequency of common voles was higher in the agricultural than in the urban landscape.…”

“…Moreover it is known that Striped Field Mouse is a well spreading species due to its mobility (Spitzenberger & Engelberger 2014), thus its distribution range has expanded north in the Transdanubian region of Hungary over the last forty years (Bihari 2007) and it was detected in some parts of Austria and Slovakia (Herzig-Straschil 2004, Obuch et al 2016, Tulis et al 2016. Despite the distribution of this species in Slovakia, it did not occur in the diet of the Barn Owl in an intensively used farmland (Veselovský et al 2017). The Striped Field Mouse prefers fields, meadows, wastelands and it is also found in different forests, woodlots patches, in urban and suburban mosaic habitats (Andrzejewski et al 1978, Gliwicz 1980, Liro & Szacki 1987, Kozakiewicz et al 1999, Łopucki et al 2013, Pieniążek et al 2017 and it is well adapted to heterogeneous agricultural landscapes (Gentili et al 2014).…”

“…Barn Owl (Tyto alba) as cosmopolitan nocturnal predator occurs worldwide in most open lands and farmlands (de Bruijn 1994, Taylor 1994, Charter et al 2009, Frey et al 2011) and its diet composition is influenced by the fluctuation of prey populations (Campbell et al 1987, Taylor 1994, Bernard et al 2010, Paspali et al 2013, climatic factors (Clark & Bunck 1991, Avery 1999, Heisler et al 2014, and change of land use and landscape composition (Rodríguez & Peris 2007, Milchev 2015, Veselovský et al 2017.…”

Variation in the diet and breeding biology of the Common Barn-owl (Tyto alba) in a demographic cycle of Common Vole (Microtus arvalis) between two outbreaks×

“…The food consumption of the Common Barn-owl is mainly determined by changes in the density of agricultural pest rodents such as different Microtus vole species, both in temperate zones of Nearctic and Paleartic regions and the Mediterranean (Colvin & MacLean 1986, Marti 1988, Taylor 1994, Shehab & Al Charabi 2006, Charter et al 2009, Kitowski 2013, Petrovici et al 2013, Purger 2014, Veselovský et al 2017. Due to their preference and high rates of consumption, several studies demonstrated negative correlation between vole (Microtus spp.)…”