Dieta de Tyto Alba (aves; strigiformes) em Ãreas urbana e rural de Pernambuco / Dieta de Tyto Alba (aves; strigiformes) em Ãreas urbana e rural de Pernambuco

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2009

RESUMO

We studied the variation in the diet of Tyto alba (Scopoli, 1769) (Strigiformes, Tytonidae) through the analysis 647 pellets contents collected from July 2006 to August 2008 in an urban and rural area in Pernambuco, Brazil. We identified 833 prey items of 16 species. Small mammals were the main prey of barn owls (93,3%) followed by invertebrates (3,2%), reptiles (3,1%) and birds (1,3%). There were differences in diet composition between two localities. The mean mass was higher in Olinda (135,3g Â15,84g) than EET (46,5g  14,17g) (U= 18; p= 0) and richness was higher in EET than Olinda (U=35; p <0,02), but the number of prey consumed by owls was not different between two areas. There was no significant difference in the diet between seasons in both urban and rural localities. Variation in the diet is due the opportunistic feeding behavior of barn owls that prey in accordance to the availability of their prey in the environment. The absence of seasonality in our study is related to the abundance of food resource for the more preyed species, that allows a continuous reproduction and consequently higher abundance of this species during the study period. The didelphid marsupials Gracilinanus agilis and Cryptonanus agricolai found in pellets constitute important new records, as they are recorded for the first time in the Atlantic forest of Pernambuco and in the Northeastern coastal region, respectively. Our results confirm the importance of studying pellet contents as a source of information on small mammals diversity and the role of owls in the potential control of rodent population in cities and agro-environments

ASSUNTO(S)

diet tyto alba strigiformes zoologia aves- dieta small mammal tyto alba pernambuco barn owl

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