Predator-prey relationships in a Mediterranean vertebrate system: Bonelli's eagles, rabbits and partridges

How predators impact on prey population dynamics is still an unsolved issue for most wild predatorprey communities. When considering vertebrates, important concerns constrain a comprehensive understanding of the functioning of predator-prey relationships worldwide; e.g. studies simultaneously quanti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Oecologia 2012-03, Vol.168 (3), p.679-689
Main Authors: Moleón, Marcos, Sánchez-Zapata, José A., Gil-Sánchez, José M., Ballesteros-Duperón, Elena, Barea-Azcón, José M., Virgos, Emilio
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alectoris rufa
Analysis
Animals
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Birds of prey
Breeding
Breeding seasons
Diet
Eagles
Eagles - physiology
Ecology
Ecosystem models
Ecosystems
Food Chain
Functional responses
Galliformes - physiology
Hieraaetus fasciatus
Hydrology/Water Resources
Life Sciences
Mediterranean Region
Oryctolagus cuniculus
Partridges
Plant Sciences
Population Density
Population Dynamics
POPULATION ECOLOGY
Population ecology - Original Paper
Predators
Predatory Behavior
Rabbits
Rabbits - physiology
Social aspects
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Summary:How predators impact on prey population dynamics is still an unsolved issue for most wild predatorprey communities. When considering vertebrates, important concerns constrain a comprehensive understanding of the functioning of predator-prey relationships worldwide; e.g. studies simultaneously quantifying 'functional' and 'numerical responses' (i.e., the 'total response') are rare.The functional, the numerical, and the resulting total response (i.e., how the predator per capita intake, the population of predators and the total of prey eaten by the total predators vary with prey densities) are fundamental as they reveal the predator's ability to regulate prey population dynamics. Here, we used a multi-spatio-temporal scale approach to simultaneously explore the functional and numerical responses of a territorial predator (Bonelli's eagle Hieraaetus fasciatus) to its two main prey species (the rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus and the red-legged partridge Alectoris rufa) during the breeding period in a Mediterranean system of south Spain. Bonelli's eagle responded functionally, but not numerically, to rabbit/partridge density changes. Type II, non-regulatory, functional responses (typical of specialist predators) offered the best fitting models for both prey. In the absence of a numerical response, Bonelli's eagle role as a regulating factor of rabbit and partridge populations seems to be weak in our study area. Simple (prey density-dependent) functional response models may well describe the short-term variation in a territorial predator's consumption rate in complex ecosystems.
ISSN:0029-8549
1432-1939
DOI:10.1007/s00442-011-2134-6