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Full-Text Articles in Population Biology
Gyrfalcon Diet During The Brood Rearing Period On The Seward Peninsula, Alaska, In The Context Of A Changing World, Bryce W. Robinson
Gyrfalcon Diet During The Brood Rearing Period On The Seward Peninsula, Alaska, In The Context Of A Changing World, Bryce W. Robinson
Boise State University Theses and Dissertations
As climate change impacts increase so does our need to understand their effects on ecosystem dynamics. I studied Gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus) diet during the brood rearing period to improve our knowledge on dietary habits during nesting, and provide necessary information for understanding climate change impacts to Arctic ecosystems. I studied diet over two breeding seasons on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska, using two methods: motion-activated cameras and the collection of prey remains. I observed three important dietary shifts: the proportion of ptarmigan in the diet declined significantly throughout the season, the proportion of large prey items declined significantly throughout …
Earlier Nesting By A Predatory Bird Is Associated With Human Adaptations To Climate Change, Shawn Heath Smith
Earlier Nesting By A Predatory Bird Is Associated With Human Adaptations To Climate Change, Shawn Heath Smith
Boise State University Theses and Dissertations
Advancing growing seasons and prey abundance drive earlier breeding in dietary specialists because, ultimately, consumers benefit by timing their reproduction to coincide with peak prey abundance. The selective pressure to breed earlier may be lower for species that forage on diverse prey items that vary in abundance both spatially and temporally. The selective pressure may be reduced further if predators have access to a mosaic of habitats, each of which having different shifts in growing seasons. We studied whether earlier breeding of a predatory generalist, the American kestrel (Falco sparverius) nesting in a mosaic of habitat types was …