What determines prey selection in owls? Roles of prey traits, prey class, environmental variables, and taxonomic specialization.

ABSTRACT: Ecological theory suggests that prey size should increase with predator size, but this trend may be masked by other factors affecting prey selection, such as environmental constraints or specific prey preferences of predator species. Owls are an ideal case study for exploring how predator body size affects prey selection in the presence of other factors due to the ease of analyzing their diets from owl pellets and their widespread distributions, allowing interspecific comparisons between variable habitats. Here, we analyze various dimensions of prey resource selection among owls, including prey size, taxonomy (i.e., whether or not particular taxa are favored regardless of their size), and prey traits (movement type, social structure, activity pattern, and diet). We collected pellets of fiv

SUBMITTER: Comay O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5869362 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature