Age-dependent diet choice in an avian top predator

Proceedings. Biological Sciences
Christian RutzIan Newton

Abstract

Age-dependent breeding performance is arguably one of the best-documented phenomena in ornithology. The existence of age-related trends has major implications for life-history theory, but the proximate reasons for these patterns remain poorly understood. It has been proposed that poor breeding performance of young individuals might reflect lack of foraging skills. We investigated this possibility in a medium-sized, powerful raptor-the northern goshawk Accipiter gentilis. Male goshawks are responsible for providing their females and their offspring with food. We hypothesized that young males may generally show poor breeding performance or even delay breeding, because they lack the experience to hunt efficiently-especially, their principal avian prey, the feral pigeon Columba livia. Our study exploited a rare 'natural experiment', the expansion phase of an urban population, where intraspecific interference was negligible and many young males bred successfully. This enabled us to examine the improvement of foraging skills in a larger sample of young individuals, and in more controlled conditions than usually possible. Using data from individually identified male breeders, we show that, consistent with our hypothesis, the proportio...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jul 8, 2010·Oecologia·Erlend B NilsenJohn D C Linnell
Jul 16, 2011·Oecologia·Nathalie PettorelliJean-Michel Gaillard
Jul 19, 2006·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Christian Rutz, Rob G Bijlsma
Feb 18, 2010·The Veterinary Clinics of North America. Exotic Animal Practice·Tim Tristan
Jul 17, 2008·The Journal of Animal Ecology·Christian Rutz
Jul 19, 2013·The Journal of Animal Ecology·Jean-Michel GaillardJohn D C Linnell
Nov 18, 2014·The Journal of Animal Ecology·Ivar HerfindalAnders P Møller
Apr 8, 2015·Die Naturwissenschaften·Vincenzo PenterianiLetizia Campioni
Apr 17, 2012·Current Biology : CB·Christian Rutz
Jul 6, 2018·The Journal of Animal Ecology·Megan MurgatroydArjun Amar
Jun 19, 2012·Acta Theriologica·Erlend B NilsenHenrik Andrén
Apr 16, 2019·PloS One·Sylvia L ParmentierMichael Lierz
Aug 2, 2017·Environmental Monitoring and Assessment·Ignacy KitowskiGrzegorz Pitucha
Aug 30, 2019·Ecology and Evolution·Tomás RedondoJenő Nagy
Apr 23, 2020·Animals : an Open Access Journal From MDPI·Patricia A FlemingMichael C Calver

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