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

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spend time in opening them. In contrast, soft-bodied<br />

prey are ready to eat. Ihey are also buried <strong>and</strong> must be<br />

searched for. but they are an easy prey for Oystercatchers<br />

when ihey come to the surface to feed themselves<br />

(Ragworms Nereis) or to <strong>de</strong>fecate (Lugworms<br />

Arenicola).<br />

The extent to which various prey species provi<strong>de</strong> a<br />

staple <strong>food</strong> for the Oystercatcher varies dramatically<br />

with season. Inl<strong>and</strong> fields are heavily exploited by<br />

breeding birds in spring <strong>and</strong> summer, but only used as<br />

a supplemental <strong>food</strong> resource by mosl Ovsiercatchers<br />

in winter (Heppleston 1971. Daan & Koene 1981.<br />

Goss-Custard & Durell 1984). On the tidal Hats, Macoma<br />

is laken in early spring, whereas Nereis predominates<br />

in late spring (Bunskoeke el al. 1996). Both prey<br />

are only locally important. In contrast as the papers reviewed<br />

below show. Mussels <strong>and</strong> Cockles are universallv<br />

important winter <strong>food</strong>s. The fact that Shore Crabs<br />

are only taken in summer is easily explained by <strong>their</strong><br />

migration to <strong>de</strong>eper water in autumn (e.g. Beukema<br />

1991). However, (he other prev occur year-round in ihe<br />

same habitat, with many individuals growing for scv -<br />

eral years. We lake as a working hypothesis that the<br />

seasonal changes in the utilization of these prey by the<br />

Oystercatcher population are primarily due to seasonal<br />

changes in harveslability of the prey. i.e. the prey fraction<br />

lhat is both accessible <strong>and</strong> profitable (Zwarts &<br />

Blomert 1991, Zwarts & Wanink 1993). By <strong>de</strong>finition,<br />

harvestability is negatively related to the effectiveness<br />

of Ihe morphological <strong>and</strong> behavioural anti-predator <strong>de</strong>fenses<br />

of the prey. Since each prey species has different<br />

adaptations to reduce predation risk, we may also<br />

expect differences between prey species in the time of<br />

year when the <strong>de</strong>fenses are most effective.<br />

The intake rate is <strong>de</strong>fined as mg s' feeding, thus ihe<br />

quotient of weight of the prey <strong>and</strong> feeding time. Feeding<br />

time consists ol two components: searching <strong>and</strong><br />

prey h<strong>and</strong>ling. Hence the intake rate is the product of<br />

two ratios:<br />

prey weight/h<strong>and</strong>ling time x<br />

h<strong>and</strong>ling time/(search + h<strong>and</strong>ling time).<br />

The first ratio, the intake rate during prey h<strong>and</strong>ling,<br />

is called the profitability. The second ratio is the relative<br />

h<strong>and</strong>ling time, the proportion of the feeding lime<br />

during which the bird h<strong>and</strong>les the prey.<br />

PREY PROFITABILITY AND INTAKE RATE<br />

176<br />

ll is obvious that the iniake rate will increase when<br />

the prey are large, arc h<strong>and</strong>led in a short time, <strong>and</strong>/or<br />

when the search time between prey is limited. Several<br />

studies (Hulscher 1976. 1982, Wanink & Zwarts 1985.<br />

Habekotte 1987, Goss-Custard

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