How important are seabirds in the diet of black rats on islands with a superpredator?

Hervías Parejo, Sandra; Ceia, Filipe R.; Pipa, Tania; Nogales, Manuel; Ruiz de Ybáñez Carnero, María del Rocío; Ramos, Jaime A.

Publication:
How important are seabirds in the diet of black rats on islands with a superpredator?

dc.contributor.author	Hervías Parejo, Sandra
dc.contributor.author	Ceia, Filipe R.
dc.contributor.author	Pipa, Tania
dc.contributor.author	Nogales, Manuel
dc.contributor.author	Ruiz de Ybáñez Carnero, María del Rocío
dc.contributor.author	Ramos, Jaime A.
dc.contributor.department	Sanidad Animal
dc.date.accessioned	2024-04-08T11:22:26Z
dc.date.available	2024-04-08T11:22:26Z
dc.date.issued	2014-03-04
dc.description	© 2014 Elsevier GmbH. This document is the Published version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Zoology. To access the final edited and published work see https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.zool.2013.12.003
dc.description.abstract	This study assessed the impact of introduced black rats (Rattus rattus) on Cory’s shearwater (Calonectrisdiomedea borealis) in a multi-invaded insular ecosystem where rats are mesopredators. We hypothesizedthat black rats should have little impact on Cory’s shearwaters in the presence of cats as superpredators.Stomach contents and stable isotope analysis (SIA) in tissues of black rats were analyzed to assess thetrophic ecology and the importance of Cory’s shearwater in their diet. We also studied the isotopic sig-nature in tissues of house mouse (Mus domesticus) to confirm previous data showing no predation of thisspecies on Cory’s shearwaters. For both rodent species, temporal variation in diet composition in responseto the availability of seabird prey was evaluated, and short- and long-term consistency in diet was testedusing different tissues from the same individual. For black rats a Bayesian isotope mixing model (SIAR)was applied to determine the relative contribution of each prey to the individual diet. SIA of mouse tis-sues varied between the Cory’s shearwater breeding and non-breeding periods. However, no significantdifferences were found in diet and SIA for black rats. In contrast, individuals of both species showed astrong consistency in diet which apparently benefited their body condition index. Although black ratssupplement their diet with Cory’s shearwater eggs and chicks (8.3% in stomach contents and 10.6% in theSIAR model), their current impact on the Cory’s shearwater population appears to be small, probably dueto several factors including the small size of the rat population and a high level of rat predation by cats.	es
dc.format	application/pdf	es
dc.format.extent	8
dc.identifier.doi	https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.zool.2013.12.003
dc.identifier.eisbn	Zoology, Vol. 117, N. 3, 2014, pp. 171-178	es
dc.identifier.issn	Print: 0944-2006
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10201/140582
dc.language	eng	es
dc.publisher	Elsevier
dc.relation	LIFE07 NAT/P/000649 “Safe Islands for Seabirds”, cofinanced by the LIFE Program of the European Union.	es
dc.relation.publisherversion	https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0944200614000166
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess	es
dc.subject	Calonectris diomedea borealis	es
dc.subject	Insular ecosystem	es
dc.subject	Mesopredator	es
dc.subject	Prey selection	es
dc.subject	Rodent feeding behaviour	es
dc.title	How important are seabirds in the diet of black rats on islands with a superpredator?	es
dc.type	info:eu-repo/semantics/article	es
dspace.entity.type	Publication	es