Attraction of kestrels to vole scent marks visible in ultraviolet light
Attraction of kestrels to vole scent marks visible in ultraviolet light
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DOI：
10.1038/373425a0
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发表时间：
1995-02
期刊：
影响因子：
64.8
通讯作者：
J. Viitala;Erkki Korplmäki;Pälvl Palokangas;M. Koivula
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
J. Viitala;Erkki Korplmäki;Pälvl Palokangas;M. Koivula
在北欧，在数百平方公里的范围内，小型啮齿动物和猛禽种群的4年波动是同步的。田鼠数量的锐减会导致它们的捕食者大范围迁移（大约1000公里），但对于捕食者如何迅速发现田鼠数量丰富的地区，人们几乎一无所知。本文报道了田鼠（Microtus agrestis）和红隼（Falco tinunculus）的室内和野外实验。田鼠用尿液和粪便来标记它们的逃跑，这些在紫外线下是可见的。圈养的野生红隼能够在紫外线下探测到田鼠的气味痕迹，但在可见光下却不能。在野外，红隼优先在实验巢箱附近狩猎，在那里用田鼠的尿液和粪便处理人工小径。我们认为，在一个区域上空飞行的红隼可以看到并利用田鼠的气味标记来评估田鼠的数量。这种能力使红隼能够在相对较短的时间内“屏蔽”大片区域。我们的研究结果为猛禽如何在没有事先了解当地食物资源的情况下发现高田鼠密度的斑块提供了一种新的解释。
IN northern Europe, broad four-year oscillations in small rodent and raptor populations are synchronous over hundreds of square kilometers1–6. Crashes in vole populations can induce wide emigration (> 1,000 km) of their predators7 –9, but almost nothing is known about how predators rapidly detect areas of vole abundance. Here we report on laboratory and field experiments on voles (Microtus agrestis) and kestrels (Falco tinnunculus). Voles mark their runaways with urine and faeces, which are visible in ultraviolet light. Wild kestrels brought into captivity were able to detect vole scent marks in ultraviolet light but not in visible light. In the field, kestrels hunted preferentially near experimental nest-boxes where artificial trails were treated with vole urine and faeces. We suggest that kestrels flying over an area can see and use vole scent marks to assess vole numbers. This ability would enable kestrels to 'screen' large areas in a relatively short time. Our results provide a novel explanation for how raptors detect patches of high vole densities without prior knowledge of local food resources.