Peregrine Falcons Enable Two Species of Colonial Seabirds to Breed Successfully by Excluding Other Aerial Predators

摘要: Abstract. The breeding success of Common Murres (Uria aalge) and Pelagic Cormorants (Phalocrocorax pelagicus) at Triangle Island, off British Columbia, Canada, was high from 2003 to 2006; four years in which a pair Peregrine Falcons (Falco peregrinus) nested the vicinity. However, three when falcon eyrie inactive (2007 2009), adult murres were depredated on colony by Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) murre eggs taken Glaucous-winged Gulls (Larus glaucescens) after eagles flushed incubating murres. Consequently, both species low 2007, then 2008 2009 no bred successfully cormorants built nests. That single falcons protected thousands seabirds is noteworthy for its local conservation implications. Bottom-up control seabird has been well documented, but there appears need better understanding role top-down mechanisms as result direct (consumptive) in...