Abstract

SOLARO, Claudina; SANTILLAN, Miguel A; COSTAN, Andrea S  and  REYES, Marcos M. Ecología trófica de Athene cunicularia y Tyto alba en el cerro Curru-Mahuida, ecotono Monte-Espinal, La Pampa, Argentina. Hornero [online]. 2012, vol.27, n.2, pp.177-182. ISSN 0073-3407.

Trophic ecology of Athene cunicularia and Tyto alba in Curru-Mahuida hill, Monte-Espinal ecotone, La Pampa, Argentina We studied the diet of Athene cunicularia and Tyto alba in an ecotonal area between Monte and Espinal in La Pampa Province, Argentina. We identified747 prey items for Athene cunicularia and 563 for Tyto alba, corresponding to classes Mammalia,Reptilia, Amphibia, Aves, Insecta and Arachnida. Insects represented the majority of the preyitems of Athene cunicularia both in summer and autumn-winter, but the greatest biomasscontribution was given by the consumption of juvenal Ctenomys sp. Tyto alba mostly consumed Calomys sp. in summer and autumn-winter, but Akodon molinae contributed greater biomass.Trophic niche breadth was higher for Athene cunicularia than for Tyto alba in summer, whereas inautumn-winter values were similar for the two species. There was no overlap in the trophicniche between Athene cunicularia and Tyto alba, which suggests that they do not compete for foodresources.

Keywords : Athene cunicularia; Diet overlap; Strigiformes; Trophic ecology; Tyto alba.

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