Diet of Barn Owl Tyto alba in Central South Bulgaria as influenced by landscape structure

Authors : Boyan MILCHEV

Pages : 933-940

View : 20 | Download : 11

Publication Date : 0000-00-00

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :This study of the diet of Barn Owl Tyto alba analyzed pellets containing 18,810 prey specimens. Small mammals insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(98.2% by number, 97.5% by biomass); dominated, while birds, reptiles, amphibians, and insects constituted a negligible portion of the diet insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(1.8% by number, 2.5% by biomass);. Voles insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(Microtus spp.); were the most numerous prey insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(35.3 ± 14.4%, range 14.6%-67.1%); in 9 localities insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(69.2%, n = 13 individually studied localities); and dominated the biomass in all diets insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(51.4 ± 14.1%, range 27.4%-78.2%);. The lesser white-toothed shrew insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(Crocidura suaveolens); insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(20.8 ± 7.6%, range 7.3%-32.8%); was the most frequent prey in the other 4 localities insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(30.8%);. The breeding localities with more similar proportions of habitats in their hunting territories had significantly higher diet overlaps insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(r = 0.336, P < 0.01);. The amount of wetlands and the indices of habitat heterogeneity and topographic relief among the landscape characteristics of the hunting territories significantly influenced diet composition according to redundancy analysis. Larger areas of wetlands correlated with higher predation on wetland mammal species, as well as the European pine vole insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(Microtus subterraneus); and white-toothed shrews, and thus with broader food niche breadth.
Keywords : Pellet analysis, feeding ecology, diet characteristics, hunting territory