10.5061/DRYAD.K114944
Lourenço, Rui
ICAAM - Inst. de Ciências Agrárias e Ambientais Mediterrânicas, Labor -
Laboratory of Ornithology, Univ; de Évora, Núcleo da Mitra, Ap. 94,
PT-7002-554 Évora Portugal
del Mar Delgado, Maria
University of Oviedo
Campioni, Letizia
Instituto Universitário de Ciências Psicológicas, Sociais e da Vida
Goytre, Fernando
ICAAM - Inst. de Ciências Agrárias e Ambientais Mediterrânicas, Labor -
Laboratory of Ornithology, Univ; de Évora, Núcleo da Mitra, Ap. 94,
PT-7002-554 Évora Portugal
Rabaça, João E.
ICAAM - Inst. de Ciências Agrárias e Ambientais Mediterrânicas, Labor -
Laboratory of Ornithology, Univ; de Évora, Núcleo da Mitra, Ap. 94,
PT-7002-554 Évora Portugal
Korpimäki, Erkki
University of Turku
Penteriani, Vincenzo
University of Oviedo
Data from: Why do top predators engage in superpredation? From an
empirical scenario to a theoretical framework
Dryad
dataset
2018
predatory interactions
Trophic ecology
Bubo bubo
2018-05-18T17:14:32Z
2018-05-18T17:14:32Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.05118
45568 bytes
1
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Lethal interactions can shape ecosystem structure, and consequently
understanding their causes is ecologically relevant. To improve both
empirical and theoretical knowledge on superpredation (i.e. predation on
high-order predators), we studied an eagle owl population, including its
main prey and mesopredators, and then we crossed these results with
existing theories to provide a reasoning framework. We fitted our field
data into four main causes explaining lethal interactions: food stress,
opportunistic superpredation, removal of a competitor, and removal of a
potential threat. Empirically, superpredation seemed to be mostly
determined by the combination of the food-stress and
opportunistic-superpredation hypotheses, which highlights the complexity
of the factors triggering superpredation. Therefore, besides being a
response to lower food availability, superpredation may also represent an
effective mechanism to remove potential predators and/or competitors,
either intentionally or not. Our theoretical framework focused on the
decision-making process in superpredation, considering four inter-related
stages: encountering; attacking; and capturing a mesopredator; as well as
consuming a mesopredator once killed. Superpredation almost certainly
results from a complex process of decision-making, accounting for costs
and benefits assessed moment-to-moment and for each mesopredator
individual. It is time to build bridges between theoretical and empirical
studies to further understand the mechanisms driving complex interactions
among top predators and mesopredators.
Data for eagle owl nest sitesData for eagle owl nest sites with: 1) the
abundance of the main prey (rabbits); 2) the abundance of mesopredators
(owls and raptors); 3) the percentage in the diet of main prey groups and
mesopredatorsPAPER_DATA_DRYAD_NEST_SITES.xlsData on mesopredator
speciesData on the ranks attributed to the species of mesopredators in
terms of their abundance near eagle owl nest sites, their percentage in
the diet of eagle owls, and their biomass ratio with the eagle
owl.PAPER_DATA_DRYAD_SPECIES.xls
Portugal
Spain