Search results for " trophic niche"
showing 4 items of 4 documents
Trophic structure of vermetid reef community: High trophic diversity at small spatial scales
2013
Stable isotopes were used to investigate contributions of autochthonous (i.e. benthic: epilithon and macroalgae) and allochthonous (i.e. pelagic: phytoplankton) organic matter sources to the diet of suspension-feeders, grazers and predators associated to small reef-pools (cuvettes) created by the reef-building species Dendropoma petraeum in the north-western coast of Sicily (Italy). Contributions of potential food sources were calculated using Bayesian mixing-models and integrated to a multivariate approach to highlight the diversity of C and N pathways within Dendropoma cuvettes. Both pelagic and benthic organic matter sources were exploited by benthic consumers, although clear differences…
Vegetated Habitats Trophically Support Early Development Stages of a Marine Migrant Fish in a Coastal Lagoon
2020
Understanding the trophic ecology of early developmental stages of commercial fish species migrating between sea and coastal lagoons is crucial to effective management of nursery habitats and resulting resources. While most information on diet shift of the gilthead seabream Sparus aurata comes from studies in experimental conditions, here we investigated the trophic niche dynamics of post-larvae, juveniles and sub-adults in natural environment, hypothesising that habitat and resources use of marine and lagoonal sites will exhibit strong relationship with ontogeny of the species. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes showed evidence of a clear shift in the trophic niche features, trophic posit…
A comparison of peregrine Falco peregrinus and lanner Falco biarmicus trophic niche in Sicily
2017
Prey availability is a crucial factor for the reproductive success of apex predators and the analysis of their diets can provide meaningful information about the quality of their habitats. In Sicily the declining lanner falcon Falco biarmicus feldeggii and the increasing peregrine falcon Falco peregrines brookei share similar habitats and trophic needs. By studying their current and past diets, we have investigated whether the characteristics of their foraging ecology could explain these different demographic trends. In 2014-2016, we identified 805 peregrine and 250 lanner Vertebrate prey from 15 peregrine and 6 lanner nests, and compared our dataset with previous data from Sicily (Peregrin…
Factors affecting the diet of Peregrine Falcon in Italy
2016
The diet of top predators can provide useful information on phenology and abundance of their prey. The cosmopolitan and specialist Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) is an ideal model to assess whether food changes have occurred in the long-term. In this contribution, we reviewed all available literature on Peregrine Falcon diet in Italy which contained 11 detailed datasets useful for our review, and also included analysis of pellets, collected at three breeding sites of Sicily during 2014 and 2015. These data allowed us to shed light on the Peregrine Falcon’s diet over the last forty years (1978-2015). We calculated the numerical and biomass percentage of the resident and not-resident pre…