The effects of drought on prey selection of the barn owl (Tyto alba) in the Strzelecki Regional Reserve, north-eastern South Australia

McDowell, Matthew C.; Medlin, Graham C.

doi:10.1071/am08115

Cited by 20 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…If major skeletal elements were missing, prey items were identified to genus (small mammals, birds), to order (frogs), and to class (birds) level. Prey numbers were estimated as the minimum number of individuals (MNI) which we determined according to the same anatomical parts of bones for small mammals (Klein & Cruz-Uribe 1984, McDowell & Medlin 2009, Torre et al 2015, Tulis et al 2015 and skulls, mandibles and long bones for birds. The percent frequency of occurrence (MNI%) was calculated for the total number of prey found in all the pellets at the three different landscape categories.…”

Section: Study Area and Sample Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

2018

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This study investigated the dietary niche of the Barn Owl (Tyto alba) in an intensively farmed landscape, based on pellet samples from 12 nesting pairs containing 25 animal taxa and 1,994 prey items after the breeding season in 2016. Based on land use categories of the buffer area around each nest, three landscape types (agricultural, mosaic, urban) were considered, to analyse the diet composition and food-niche parameters. Niche breadth was calculated at the local and landscape level. Small mammals were the most frequent in the diet than other prey in each of the landscape types. The Common Vole (Microtus arvalis), considered to be an important agricultural pest was the most numerous prey in all landscape groups. The trophic niche of Barn Owl varied between 0.69 – 0.86 at the local level, and the overall value of niche breadth was significantly higher in the urban than in the other two landscape types. Our results showed that the increase of Common Vole frequency lead to a decrease in niche breadth; significantly negative relationship was detected between these parameters. Despite differences in niche breadth, similarly high niche overlaps were detected by the randomisation test in the three landscapes. Our results suggest that the diet composition of Barn Owls, mainly their food-niche pattern, reflected prey availability in the comparison of the studied landscapes, which pointed out that it is necessary to examine the dietary difference of Barn Owls at the finer scale of land use.

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Section: Study Area and Sample Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

2018

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“…Diurnal raptors have lower gastric pH, which causes extensive dissolution of prey bones, but such assemblages are still of value to ecologists (Mayhew 1977;Marshall 1986;Pavey et al 2008a). Nocturnal raptors prey on a wide range of species, but often target nocturnal mammals (Pavey et al 2008b;McDowell & Medlin 2009). They have higher gastric pH, which causes less damage to prey bones (Marshall 1986), often regurgitate ingested bones unbroken and tend to occupy cave roosts for generations, frequently concentrating prey remains in enormous numbers (Marshall 1986;Kusmer 1990).…”

Section: Taphonomic and Collection Biasesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Holocene vertebrate fossils aid the management and restoration of Australian ecosystems

McDowell¹

2014

Eco Management Restoration

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This review arose from the observation that 'long-term' ecological studies could be extended by orders of magnitude if palaeo-ecological data are incorporated.Summary European-settlement-related impacts over the past 200 years pose many challenges for the conservation and restoration of Australia's ecosystems. Landscape modification, associated habitat loss and the introduction of exotic species have caused the extinction and mainland extirpation of numerous vertebrates. This process happened so quickly that many species became locally or functionally extinct before their presence was documented. A growing body of research on Holocene fossil accumulations is providing insights into the composition and biogeography of Australian ecosystems prior to European settlement. This review explores the similarities between palaeo-and neo-ecology and how Holocene (last 10,000 years) assemblages can be used by neo-ecologists, conservation managers and policy makers to identify and fill gaps in knowledge and contribute to the management and restoration of Australia's degraded ecosystems.

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“…Both the high relative abundance of the living rodents, and probably the owls' search images for these species, bias the resulting accumulations of remains toward disproportionately high rodent and low dasyurid relative abundances (e.g. Morton and Martin 1979;Baynes and Baird 1992;McDowell and Medlin 2009). This effect biases representation of species among remains in cave deposits in favour of rodents.…”

Section: How Representative Are the Fossil Samples?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finlayson 1939;Newsome and Corbett 1975), with peaks following major rain events (e.g. How et al 1991;Reid et al 1993;Dickman et al 1999;McDowell and Medlin 2009). Barn Owls move to take advantage of these booms in rodent numbers (Schodde and Mason 1980), and therefore contribute most bones to deposits when rodent numbers are locally high.…”

Section: How Representative Are the Fossil Samples?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The original mammal fauna of the Pilbara biogeographic region of north-western Australia

Baynes¹,

McDowell²

2010

Rec West Aust Mus Sup

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-The hills and ranges of the Pilbara contain large numbers of caves, but only a miniscule proportion of these holds mammal remains that can be used to reconstruct the original (i.e. pre-European) fauna. During two fi eld seasons in 1985 and 2004, only 12 sites with bones were discovered. Material from three other sites lodged in the collections of the Western Australian Museum was also used. Thirty-six native mammal species plus the introduced House Mouse were identifi ed from cave surface remains. Compared with the fauna known from live-caught specimen records and the results of the Pilbara Biodiversity Survey, rodent species are comprehensively represented among the remains, dasyurid marsupials and bandicoots are moderately well represented, macropodoids are poorly represented, and bats (except two cave-roosting species) hardly represented at all. Results of this study indicate that the Central Rock-rat (Zyzomys pedunculatus), and probably the Golden-backed Tree-rat (Mesembriomys macrurus), originally occurred throughout the Pilbara ranges. Chuditch (Dasyurus geoffroii) is recorded from the Pilbara for the fi rst time, suggesting that it may have occurred in the lowlands, while Northern Quoll (D. hallucatus) occupied the ranges. New records of Melomys burtoni and Pseudomys fi eldi represent substantial extensions of geographic range. Overall, these results confi rm the Pilbara as the western outpost of several northern mammal species, but show that the original fauna is less distinctive than previously thought, with a higher proportion of species widespread in the arid zone.

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The effects of drought on prey selection of the barn owl (Tyto alba) in the Strzelecki Regional Reserve, north-eastern South Australia

Cited by 20 publications

References 26 publications

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

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

Holocene vertebrate fossils aid the management and restoration of Australian ecosystems

The original mammal fauna of the Pilbara biogeographic region of north-western Australia

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