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Predator–prey relationships in a Mediterranean vertebrate system: Bonelli’s eagles, rabbits and partridges

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Abstract

How predators impact on prey population dynamics is still an unsolved issue for most wild predator–prey communities. When considering vertebrates, important concerns constrain a comprehensive understanding of the functioning of predator–prey relationships worldwide; e.g. studies simultaneously quantifying ‘functional’ and ‘numerical responses’ (i.e., the ‘total response’) are rare. The functional, the numerical, and the resulting total response (i.e., how the predator per capita intake, the population of predators and the total of prey eaten by the total predators vary with prey densities) are fundamental as they reveal the predator’s ability to regulate prey population dynamics. Here, we used a multi-spatio-temporal scale approach to simultaneously explore the functional and numerical responses of a territorial predator (Bonelli’s eagle Hieraaetus fasciatus) to its two main prey species (the rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus and the red-legged partridge Alectoris rufa) during the breeding period in a Mediterranean system of south Spain. Bonelli’s eagle responded functionally, but not numerically, to rabbit/partridge density changes. Type II, non-regulatory, functional responses (typical of specialist predators) offered the best fitting models for both prey. In the absence of a numerical response, Bonelli’s eagle role as a regulating factor of rabbit and partridge populations seems to be weak in our study area. Simple (prey density-dependent) functional response models may well describe the short-term variation in a territorial predator’s consumption rate in complex ecosystems.

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Acknowledgments

The prey censuses in 2002 and the radiotracking work were conducted with the support of the regional government of S Spain (Egmasa-Consejería de Medio Ambiente, Junta de Andalucía). J. Martín-Jaramillo and E. Ávila helped with the radiotracking work. M.M. obtained a postdoctoral grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education (Programa Nacional de Movilidad de Recursos Humanos del Plan Nacional de I + D+i 2008–2011) during the final stage of this paper. V. Penteriani, J. Valkama, C. Johnson and three anonymous reviewers made valuable criticisms on an earlier draft of this manuscript. J. Muddeman and H. Warburton improved the English. Finally, we would like to thank M. Chirosa for his continuous and unconditional support.

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  1. Marcos Moleón

    Present address: Centre for African Ecology, School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Wits, Johannesburg, 2050, South Africa

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Empresa de Gestión Medioambiental-Consejería de Medio Ambiente, Junta de Andalucía, C/Joaquina Eguaras, 10, 18013, Granada, Spain

    Marcos Moleón, José M. Gil-Sánchez, Elena Ballesteros-Duperón & José M. Barea-Azcón

  2. Depto. de Biología Aplicada, Univ. Miguel Hernández, Ctra. de Beniel km 3.2, 33012, Orihuela, Alicante, Spain

    José A. Sánchez-Zapata

  3. Depto. de Biología y Geología, Escuela Superior de Ciencias Experimentales y Tecnología, Univ. Rey Juan Carlos, C/Tulipán, s/n, 28933, Móstoles, Madrid, Spain

    Emilio Virgós

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  1. Marcos Moleón
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Correspondence to Marcos Moleón.

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Communicated by Christopher Johnson.

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Moleón, M., Sánchez-Zapata, J.A., Gil-Sánchez, J.M. et al. Predator–prey relationships in a Mediterranean vertebrate system: Bonelli’s eagles, rabbits and partridges. Oecologia 168, 679–689 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-011-2134-6

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