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

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<strong>and</strong>omly probing <strong>their</strong> bill into the mud. so prev<br />

<strong>de</strong>tectabihty is <strong>de</strong>termined by the surface 'touch area'<br />

Of the shell (Hulscher 1976. 1982. Zwarts & Blomert<br />

1992). Oystercatchers either open the prey in situ<br />

beneath the surface or lift them out of the substrate.<br />

The bivalves are opened by stabbing, or forcing, the<br />

bill between the valves, after which the llesh is eaten<br />

out of the shell (Hulscher 1982. Wanink & Zwarts<br />

1985). Because no size limit is set by gape size <strong>and</strong><br />

only the llesh is consumed, all prey are ingestible <strong>and</strong><br />

digestible. Hence the harvestable fraction <strong>de</strong>pends<br />

solely on the limits <strong>de</strong>termined by the accessibility <strong>and</strong><br />

profitability of the prey (Fig. 14A).<br />

Oystercatchers lift <strong>de</strong>ep-living prey more often<br />

than shallow ones (Wanink & Zwarts 1985). The<br />

lifting of prey prolongs the h<strong>and</strong>ling time <strong>and</strong> so<br />

makes them less profitable. As discussed above, <strong>de</strong>epliving,<br />

but accessible, pre) may thus be ignored due to<br />

<strong>their</strong> low profitability (Wanink & Zwarts 1985). We<br />

therefore assume that ihe Oystercatchers (bill length<br />

6.5 to 8.5 cm) take the majority of Macoma <strong>and</strong><br />

Scrobicularia from ihe upper 4 cm of the substrate,<br />

<strong>and</strong> perhaps from the upper 6 cm when either the<br />

intake rate <strong>and</strong>/or the <strong>de</strong>nsity of easily accessible prey<br />

is low.<br />

Oystercatchers take large bivalves (e.g. Hughes<br />

1970a. Goss-Custard et al. 1977a. Hulscher 1982,<br />

Bunskoeke et al. 1996. Zwarts et al. (1996a). Macoma<br />

smaller than 10 mm <strong>and</strong> Scrobicularia smaller than 13<br />

mm are always ignored because they are unprofitable<br />

(Hulscher 1982. Zwarts et al. 1996a). Intake rate varies<br />

greatly <strong>and</strong> primarily <strong>de</strong>pends on the presence of large<br />

bivalves. When, due to the high <strong>de</strong>nsity of the large<br />

size classes. Oystercatchers achieve a high intake rate,<br />

they are more selective <strong>and</strong> ignore Macoma less than<br />

15 mm long <strong>and</strong> Scrobicularia smaller than 25 mm<br />

long (Zwarts et al. 1996a). The harvestable fraction is<br />

thus highly variable for two reasons. First, the <strong>de</strong>pth<br />

distribution <strong>and</strong> prey biomass fluctuates seasonally<br />

Fin. I-I- The harvestable traction of benthic prey <strong>de</strong>pends on the<br />

fraction of prey being A. accessible <strong>and</strong> profitable in touch-feeding<br />

Oystercatcher: B. accessible, ingestible <strong>and</strong> profitable in louclifeeding<br />

Knot, <strong>and</strong> C accessible, <strong>de</strong>tectable <strong>and</strong> profitable in Curlew<br />

feeding by sight lor siphon holes.<br />

FOOD SUPPLY HARVESTABLE BY WADERS<br />

7.:<br />

DETECTABLE<br />

V opth<br />

ACCESSIBLE AVAILABLE<br />

INGESTIBLE '<br />

PROFITABLE<br />

*o<br />

N HARVESTABLE<br />

^ 1<br />

f<br />

size K.<br />

Oystercatcher (A)<br />

Knot

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