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waders and their estuarine food supplies - Vlaams Instituut voor de ...

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lig. 2. Larger Mussels are less available<br />

than small ones lo Ov stercatchcrs hammering<br />

on Ihe dorsal or vemral si<strong>de</strong> of Ihe shell,<br />

either because ihe shell is covered by<br />

barnacles or loo thick to break Cayford &<br />

Goss-OisiardllWO).<br />

enough to break (Fig. 2). Since Mussels often grow on<br />

top each other, an unknown proportion of the Mussels<br />

are not actually visible lo sight-hunting Oystercatchers<br />

(Goss-Custard et al. 1993. Meire 1996b, 1996c). This<br />

may affect the observed size selection, since large<br />

Mussels tend to cover small Mussels (Hulscher 1964.<br />

Norton-Griffiths 1967, Goss-Custard et al. 1993).<br />

Observed size selection<br />

Macoma balthica<br />

Oystercatchers feeding on Macoma <strong>de</strong>tect them by<br />

PREY SIZE SELECTION AND INTAKE RATE<br />

DORSAL VENTRAL<br />

5 10 15 20<br />

length ol Macoma (mm)<br />

50 fO 30<br />

length of mussel (mm)<br />

V 50<br />

^T too ttiich<br />

na thin, but covered<br />

•*•• by Barnacles<br />

I | available<br />

touch. Size selection in birds feeding on this clam has<br />

been studied on many occasions. To construct Fig. 3,<br />

the frequency distributions of the mm classes laken<br />

<strong>and</strong> of those on offer in the substrate were combined<br />

from all the studies because the si/e class distributions<br />

taken <strong>and</strong> on offer were similar, apart from the very<br />

large variation in the <strong>de</strong>nsity of prey smaller than 10<br />

mm long. However, these small Macoma were never<br />

selected, regardless of <strong>their</strong> contribution to the total<br />

prey population. On average, 81% of the prey taken<br />

were 15 to 20 mm long, compared with onlv ^3' I on<br />

oiler al all <strong>de</strong>pths in the substrate (Fig. 3A). In fact,<br />

Oystercatchers take Macoma only from the upper 4 cm<br />

tig. 3. Size classes of Macoma balihica selected by Oystercaicher i sha<strong>de</strong>d i compared with the distribution ..I size classes in the prey population<br />

i solid line I: A. Total pre) population: B. Prey population in the upper 4 cm I sec Fig. 1):C Prey population in the upper 4 cm. corrected tor<br />

'effective touch area" (see Table I) <strong>and</strong> so actually encountered. The graphs give the averages of 26 studies in which prey on offer <strong>and</strong> those<br />

laken were compared: Blomert el al. (1983), Cio-s l usiard et al. 11977b), Habekotte I 19X7). Hulscher (1982 <strong>and</strong> unpubl.). Triplet (1989a).<br />

158

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