RESPONSES OF AN AVIAN PREDATOR TO VARIATIONS IN PREY DENSITY AT A TEMPERATE LATITUDE

Abstract

Fluctuating prey populations and their effects on avian predator population dynamics have been studied particularly at high latitudes, where prey populations, especially microtines, are known to be cyclic; raptors show both numerical and functional responses to variations in their prey. In this paper, we investigate the response of a migratory raptor (Montagu's Harrier, Circus pygargus) to variations in abundance of its main prey (common vole, Microtus arvalis) in France. We document multiannual fluctuation in the abundance of common voles. The numerical response of Montagu's Harrier to this variable food supply was studied using breeding parameters (breeding density, breeding phenology, and various measures of breeding success). Breeding density and mean clutch size were strongly correlated with spring vole abundance, whereas mean brood size at fledging was correlated positively with summer vole abundance. The mechanism involved in the numerical response of Montagu's Harrier indicates that dispersal and colonization by yearlings may be more important than natality per se. Pellets collected between 1986 and 1997 were used to determine the functional response of Montagu's Harrier to variations in vole abundance. In terms of biomass, Montagu's Harrier diet consisted mainly of voles (33.7–86.6%, between 1986 and 1997). Vole biomass in pellets was closely related to vole abundance estimated by trapping. A type II functional response was detected, with satiation at high prey density, as the shapes of many relationships between breeding parameters and vole abundance were more curvilinear than linear. Our results fit the pattern of relationships between predators and cyclic prey found in Fennoscandia, in which specialist predators show a strong numerical response, although at such a temperate latitude, a more pronounced functional response might have been expected.