Life Sciences Commons^™

Dietary Plasticity In A Specialist Predator, The Gyrfalcon (Falco Rusticolus): New Insights Into Diet During Brood Rearing, Bryce W. Robinson, Travis L. Booms, Marc J. Bechard, David L. Anderson

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Climate and landscape change are expected to affect species’ distributions and interactions, with potentially harmful consequences for specialist predators. Availability of optimal prey can affect reproductive success in raptors, especially in the Arctic, where dramatic differences in prey availability occur both within and between years. However, behavioral responses of dietary specialist, resident predators such as Gyrfalcons (Falco rusticolus) to changes in prey availability remain poorly understood. To improve understanding of how climate-driven changes in prey availability may affect diet of avian predators in the Arctic, we characterized Gyrfalcon diet on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska, in 2014 and 2015 …