Limitations of Owl Reproduction in the Wild: is there a Role for Food Quality Besides Quantity?

Burg, A.B. van den

doi:10.5253/078.097.0429

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 11 publications

(8 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Actually, these prey categories are consumed as incidental prey. In contrast, vertebrate prey, representing the main elements of diet biomass are consumed constantly, since the White Stork is regularly looking for food rich in energy for maintaining and/or increasing the body fitness and thus improving reproductive performance (Byholm and Kekkonen, 2008;Van den Burg, 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Food supply is one of the ecological factors that influence life-history traits, population sizes and community structure in birds (Martin, 1987). Indeed, understanding both the ecological continuity of animal species and their ecological niches is greatly dependent on food restriction and its variations in quality and quantity (Van den Burg, 2009). Ecologists investigate the trophic niches of animal species to determine precisely their actual place in food webs and understand diet specialisation and population dynamics (Svanbäck and Persson, 2004;Nielsen et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In particular, under climate change that induces mismatch between the timing of local food productivity and breeding energetics, which push parents to increase feeding costs either during the young rearing "high demand" or when food resources in foraging habitats decrease "low supply" (Thomas et al, 2001;Durant et al, 2007;Van der Jeugd et al, 2009). Moreover, both quality and quantity of food during each breeding stage play a key role in the determination of parental health and fitness by affecting the performance of their physiological traits (Reynolds et al, 2003;Van den Burg, 2009). Therefore, it has a significant effect on the reproductive performance and breeding success, especially in wild species (Byholm and Kekkonen, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Trophic Niche and Feeding Strategy of the White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) during different Phases of the Breeding Season

Chenchouni

Bachir

AlRashidi

2015

Avian Biology Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Assessing feeding conditions and variations of diet composition over the breeding season is of great help in the understanding of the ecological niche of species. In meeting this aim, the White Stork's (Ciconia ciconia) diet was studied based on the analysis of 87 regurgitation pellets collected from Batna (Northeast Algeria). A set of 2138 prey-items were identified and classified into 61 different prey-species belonging to seven classes, 13 orders, 29 families and 51 genera. The White Stork has a diverse diet (food niche breadth, FNB = 14.5, Shannon index H' = 4.4 bits), mainly composed of arthropods, of which 94% of prey-items are insects that represent 8% of total prey biomass. The White Stork constantly fed on the remains of chicken foraged from rubbish dumps (biomass = 68.74%) and small mammals (biomass = 14.41%) as these prey categories constitute a source of high energy, particularly during the period of chick rearing. GLMs applied for diet characteristics revealed a significant variation in numbers of prey individuals between breeding phenological stages. While variations of other diet parameters (biomass, species richness, FNB, H', H' max and evenness) were not statistically influenced by breeding phenology. All diet characteristics were significantly correlated with the period of chick development, which is the key period for breeding success; suggesting an increase in parental investment and feeding effort. Our findings suggest that the White Stork performs a balance in order to satisfy its food requirements by compensating reciprocally between intake of prey numbers and their biomass regardless of the phenological stage of reproduction.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Trophic Niche and Feeding Strategy of the White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) during different Phases of the Breeding Season

Chenchouni

Bachir

AlRashidi

2015

Avian Biology Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This result was contrary to expectations, as we predicted that food abundance would be especially limited in low‐quality habitats (homogeneous coniferous forests in our population; Rutz and Bijlsma 2006, Rutz et al 2006b), as shown by Byholm and Kekkonen (2008) for fitness‐related variables in a Finnish population of goshawks. In our case, the eumelanin content of goshawk feathers increased with food abundance in the preferred habitat (coniferous–deciduous mixed woodland) only, which may suggest that food quality is so low in homogeneous coniferous forests (van den Burg 2009) that any increase in its abundance does not correspond to an increase in the availability of melanin precursors. Indeed, it is possible that poor habitats for goshawks are poor habitats for their prey too (Strong and Sherry 2000, Bearhop et al 2004), so that food abundance no longer reflects amino acid availability if this latter variable depends on the physical condition of individual prey and this is, in turn, bad in homogeneous coniferous forests.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 48%

Environmental constraints for plumage melanization in the northern goshawk Accipiter gentilis

Galván¹,

Bijlsma²,

Negro³

et al. 2010

Journal of Avian Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although it is recognized that certain environmental factors are important determinants of the expression of melanin‐based traits, their influence in wild populations of animals is poorly known. One of these factors is the availability of amino acids that serve as precursors of melanins. Here we measured eumelanin and pheomelanin content in feathers of northern goshawk Accipiter gentilis nestlings, hypothesizing that, if the availability of melanin precursors is related to food abundance and habitat quality, plumage melanization should be affected by those variables. Although the eumelanin content increased with food abundance as predicted, the levels of this variable were higher in low‐quality habitats (homogeneous coniferous forests) and in nestlings in poor condition, and the pheomelanin content and eumelanin:pheomelanin ratio were lower and higher, respectively, in subpopulations where nestlings were in poorer condition. Therefore, environmental availability of melanin precursors seems to determine plumage melanization in goshawks, but our findings may also be explained by the differential effects of environmental oxidative stress on both forms of melanin, as eumelanin and pheomelanin production are favoured under high and low levels, respectively, of oxidative stress.

show abstract

“…Moreover, cold weather prior to egg laying will lead to higher energy expenditure. This may force owls to spend more stored body lipid reserves to produce eggs, and POPs embedded in these lipids will be sequestered into the eggs. − However, such relationships might differ with variation in feeding conditions. That is, when abundance of voles is high, the probability of energy shortfalls due to adverse climatic conditions is likely to be reduced.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of Climate and Feeding Conditions on the Annual Accumulation (1986–2009) of Persistent Organic Pollutants in a Terrestrial Raptor

Bustnes

Yoccoz

Bangjord³

et al. 2011

Environ. Sci. Technol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The relationships between climate variability, feeding conditions, and the annual accumulation of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis (p-chlorophenyl) ethylene (p,p'-DDE) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) in eggs (n = 168) of tawny owls (Strix aluco) were assessed over a 24-year period (1986-2009) in Central Norway. Winter climate variables included the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and snow conditions, whereas feeding conditions were assessed using vole abundance. The concentrations of all compounds declined between 79% (p,p'-DDE) and 86% (PBDE) over the time period. For PCB and p,p'-DDE, the accumulation was positively associated with snow depth, and negatively associated with NAO (i.e., high accumulation in cold and dry winters) when vole abundance was low, suggesting trade-offs between winter severity and feeding conditions. That is, females mobilize more body fat reserves in cold winters when feeding conditions are poor, which results in increased circulating contaminant concentrations and maternal transfer to the eggs. Owls may also have been forced to feed on prey with higher contaminant loads due to restricted prey availability. For the recently banned PBDEs, the accumulation was high when NAO was low, while snow depth was positively associated with PBDE accumulation only when feeding conditions were good. This suggests somewhat different dynamics of PBDE in the environment or in the owls, compared to PCB and p,p'-DDE. However, climate and feeding conditions explained as much of the annual variation in concentrations of all POPs, as the overall decreasing trend over the 24 years. Hence, such factors should be considered in monitoring programs for POPs. Moreover, to better understand the mechanisms of climate effects on POP accumulation, future studies should measure pollutants in different components of the food chain.

show abstract

Limitations of Owl Reproduction in the Wild: is there a Role for Food Quality Besides Quantity?

Cited by 9 publications

References 11 publications

Trophic Niche and Feeding Strategy of the White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) during different Phases of the Breeding Season

Trophic Niche and Feeding Strategy of the White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) during different Phases of the Breeding Season

Environmental constraints for plumage melanization in the northern goshawk Accipiter gentilis

Impacts of Climate and Feeding Conditions on the Annual Accumulation (1986–2009) of Persistent Organic Pollutants in a Terrestrial Raptor

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About