31.08.2013 Views

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

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

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

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

Curlew, by bury ing some hundreds of big clams just<br />

below the surface of the intertidal Hats. As an unexpected<br />

but interesting result, an Oystercatcher started<br />

to prey on the big clams <strong>and</strong> vigorously <strong>de</strong>fen<strong>de</strong>d the<br />

site, with success, not onlv againsi congeners but also<br />

against Curlews, li did so I'm a couple of days, during<br />

PREY DEPLETION BY OYSTERCATCHER AND CURLEW<br />

which this single bird completely <strong>de</strong>pleted the planted<br />

population of prey. This kind of behaviour was never<br />

observed in "natural' situations. Interactions between<br />

Oystercatchers <strong>and</strong> Curlews an* normal!*, quite me<br />

In the natural situation, il is verj unlikel) that there<br />

is diicci competition between Oystercatcher <strong>and</strong><br />

1980 1981<br />

Fig. 5. A. Average size of two cohorts ol clams ol which Ihe spatlall look place in I976 (open circles) <strong>and</strong> 1979(solidcircles) in the Nes area<br />

(Frisian coast); rejection threshold for both bod species is indicated. B. Avenge <strong>de</strong>pth of t*w cohorts of which the spatfall usik place in 1976<br />

(open Circles) <strong>and</strong> 1979 (solid Circles); hill lengih (<strong>and</strong> thus maximal prey <strong>de</strong>pth) for both bird species is given. C. Density of clams/m-' since<br />

1977 in Ihe Nes area (number of two cohorts together). Upper panel shows total <strong>de</strong>nsity <strong>and</strong> <strong>de</strong>nsity ol clams vulnerable lo predation by Oystercalchers<br />

(clam sizc7> 15 mm. <strong>de</strong>pth < 7 cm. see Fig. 3). Lower panel gives <strong>de</strong>nsity oi potential prey for Curlew s < si/e > 30 mm. <strong>de</strong>pth < 14<br />

cm. set .te the different scale used for both hird species Mam cvploitalion periods las <strong>de</strong>rived Irom bird counts <strong>and</strong> observations on<br />

pre] Selection) are indicated hy black bars along the K-a*ds<br />

341

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!