Pine marten predation of common goldeneye nests: Effects of cavity age and habitat override any effect of microtine rodent abundance.

ABSTRACT: According to the alternative prey hypothesis (APH), the temporal synchrony in population fluctuations of microtine rodents and other small herbivores in boreal areas is caused by generalist predators with numerical and functional response to microtines, leading to an increased predation of prey alternative to microtines in the low phase of the microtine population fluctuations. The tree-climbing pine marten (Martes martes) is a food generalist that includes bird eggs among its alternative prey, also eggs of the cavity-nesting common goldeneye (Bucephala clangula). We used long-term data to test whether pine marten predation of goldeneye eggs in nest boxes varied as predicted by the APH. As a measure of microtine abundance at the time of nesting, we applied two measures. First

SUBMITTER: Sonerud GA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10594075 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature