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Ecol Evol

Title:		Avian top predator and the landscape of fear: responses of mammalian mesopredators to risk imposed by the golden eagle
Author(s):		Lyly MS; Villers A; Koivisto E; Helle P; Ollila T; Korpimaki E;
Address:		"Section of Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Turku FI-20014, Turku, Finland. Section of Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Turku FI-20014, Turku, Finland ; Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chize UMR 7372, CNRS & Universite de La Rochelle 79360, Beauvoir sur Niort, France. Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute, Oulu Game and Fisheries Research, University of Oulu POB 413, FI-90014, Oulu, Finland. Finnish Forest and Park Services, Natural Heritage Services POB 8016, FI-96101, Rovaniemi, Finland"
Journal Title:		Ecol Evol
Year:		2015
Volume:		20150105
Issue:		2
Page Number:		503 - 514
DOI:		10.1002/ece3.1370
ISSN/ISBN:		2045-7758 (Print) 2045-7758 (Electronic) 2045-7758 (Linking)
Abstract:		"Top predators may induce extensive cascading effects on lower trophic levels, for example, through intraguild predation (IGP). The impacts of both mammalian and avian top predators on species of the same class have been extensively studied, but the effects of the latter upon mammalian mesopredators are not yet as well known. We examined the impact of the predation risk imposed by a large avian predator, the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos, L.), on its potential mammalian mesopredator prey, the red fox (Vulpes vulpes, L.), and the pine marten (Martes martes, L.). The study combined 23 years of countrywide data from nesting records of eagles and wildlife track counts of mesopredators in Finland, northern Europe. The predation risk of the golden eagle was modeled as a function of territory density, density of fledglings produced, and distance to nearest active eagle territory, with the expectation that a high predation risk would reduce the abundances of smaller sized pine martens in particular. Red foxes appeared not to suffer from eagle predation, being in fact most numerous close to eagle nests and in areas with more eagle territories. This is likely due to similar prey preferences of the two predators and the larger size of foxes enabling them to escape eagle predation risk. Somewhat contrary to our prediction, the abundance of pine martens increased from low to intermediate territory density and at close proximity to eagle nests, possibly because of similar habitat preferences of martens and eagles. We found a slightly decreasing trend of marten abundance at high territory density, which could indicate that the response in marten populations is dependent on eagle density. However, more research is needed to better establish whether mesopredators are intimidated or predated by golden eagles, and whether such effects could in turn cascade to lower trophic levels, benefitting herbivorous species"
Keywords:		Intraguild predation mesopredator suppression pine marten raptor red fox trophic interactions;
Notes:		"PubMed-not-MEDLINELyly, Mari S Villers, Alexandre Koivisto, Elina Helle, Pekka Ollila, Tuomo Korpimaki, Erkki eng England 2015/02/19 Ecol Evol. 2015 Jan; 5(2):503-14. doi: 10.1002/ece3.1370. Epub 2015 Jan 5"