![]() ![]() To understand the dynamics of such a system I examined the response to rodent outbreaks by the letter-winged kite (Elanus scriptus) in the Simpson Desert, Australia a region that experiences major pulses in primary productivity, driven by unpredictable rainfall events. Predator–prey relationships in these acyclic systems are poorly understood in particular with respect to the level of prey specialisation shown by nomadic predators. In environments driven by unpredictable resource pulses, populations of many consumer species experience dramatic fluctuations in abundance and spatial extent. ![]() Although a dietary generalist across its range, our results indicate the Southern Boobook is capable of specialising on small mammals during population irruptions. There was no evidence of reproductive activity among the owls and they vacated the area as the small mammal irruption subsided. ![]() 98% of prey items and > 99% of prey biomass. Dietary analysis confirmed that the owls specialised on small mammals, with rodent and dasyurid species accounting for c. Boobook owls immigrated to the site from an estimated distance of ≥ 32 km and appeared to be resident over a period of ≥ 4 months, coinciding with a localised irruption of Rains mice Pseudomys australis. We aimed to determine whether Southern Boobooks could find and exploit a localised rodent irruption in the western Simpson Desert, in a location with few roost trees and no tree hollows. Australia's arid-adapted Tyto owls have been recorded responding functionally and numerically to these small mammal booms, though it is not known whether the Southern Boobook Ninox novaeseelandiae is able to respond similarly. Populations of Australian desert rodents are known to undergo booms in response to resource pulses following periods of high rainfall. ![]()
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