Attraction of kestrels to vole scent marks visible in ultraviolet light
@article{Viitala1995AttractionOK, title={Attraction of kestrels to vole scent marks visible in ultraviolet light}, author={Jussi Viitala and Erkki Korplm{\"a}ki and P{\"a}lvl Palokangas and M. Koivula}, journal={Nature}, year={1995}, volume={373}, pages={425-427} }
IN northern Europe, broad four-year oscillations in small rodent and raptor populations are synchronous over hundreds of square kilometers 1–6. Crashes in vole populations can induce wide emigration (> 1,000 km) of their predators 7 –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…
342 Citations
Do Tengmalm's owls see vole scent marks visible in ultraviolet light?
- BiologyAnimal Behaviour
- 1997
The results suggest that Tengmalm's owls probably do not use UV light as a cue to detect vole scent marks, suggesting that Diurnal kestrels, Falco tinnunculus and Aegolius funereus probably use them as a Cue to find areas of food abundance.
Do scent marks increase predation risk of microtine rodents
- Environmental Science
- 2001
The results suggest that odour of scentmarks may be a larger risk to voles than UV visibility of scent marks, and small mustelids were the mainpredators of voles.
Rough-legged Buzzards use vole scent marks to assess hunting areas
- Environmental Science
- 1999
The results indicate that Rough-legged Buzzards may be able to use vole scent marks as a cue when searching for profitable hunting and breeding areas.
lemmings indoor plumbing
- Geography
- 1996
The faeces and urine of microtine rodents are visible in ultraviolet light, and diurnal raptors, such as European kestrels (Falco tinnunculus) and rough-legged buzzards (Buteo lagopus), have the…
Why lemmings have indoor plumbing in summer
- Environmental Science
- 1996
It is hypothesized that in arctic tundra areas in summer, intense avian predation pressure and short vegetation should select for microtine behaviour that would minimize their exposure to diurnal raptors.
UV reflecting vole scent marks attract a passerine, the great grey shrike Lanius excubitor
- Environmental Science
- 2002
The great grey shrike probably uses UV cues to gain information on vole locations and abundance, and is likely to use scent marks with UV light to detect prey-patches.
Scent marking by common volesMicrotus arvalis in the presence of a same-sex neighbour
- Environmental ScienceActa Theriologica
- 2010
The competitive-ability hypothesis in females is tested, stating that the abundance of scent marks of an individual before a social interaction can predict its degree of intolerance in a future social interaction, and the results from female pairs physically interacting for four days support the hypothesis.
The Role of Scent-Marking in Patchy and Highly Fragmented Populations of the Cabrera Vole (Microtus cabrerae Thomas, 1906)
- Environmental ScienceZoological science
- 2013
The clear preference of receivers to scent-mark with urine the substrate pre-marked by the opposite sex strongly suggests that Cabrera voles use urine scent-marks for inter-sexual communication, probably to increase mate-finding likelihood, rather than for territorial defense and/or self-advertisement.
Pygmy owl Glaucidium passerinum and the usage of ultraviolet cues of prey
- Environmental Science
- 2011
It is suggested that pygmy owls can detect near UV and use UV to gain information about prey like other diurnal raptors.
Shoal choice and ultraviolet reflections in stickleback populations from different photic habitats
- Environmental Science
- 2015
Reflection measurements showed that the UV chroma (intensity) of sticklebacks from tea-stained lakes was higher than that of stickelbacks from clear-water, most likely contrasting maximally against the UV-poor background or compensating for a stronger attenuation of the signal.
References
SHOWING 1-10 OF 21 REFERENCES
Ultraviolet visual sensitivity in desert iguanas: implications for pheromone detection
- BiologyAnimal Behaviour
- 1989
Rapid Tracking of Microtine Populations by Their Avian Predators: Possible Evidence for Stabilizing Predation
- Environmental Science, Biology
- 1985
There are no time lags between population fluctuations of Tengmalm's owl, short-eared owl, longeared owl, kestrel and hen harrier and their microtine prey in western Finland and this seems to indicate that nomadic vole specialists may possibly stabilize small mammal populations by truncating population peaks.
Scent marking with urine in two races of the bank vole (Clethrionomys glareolus).
- Environmental ScienceBehaviour
- 1975
Two geographically isolated races of the vole were investigated; these were Clethrionomys glareolus skomerensis from the island of Skomer, Wales, and C. britannicus from the mainland of Britain; it was found that Skomer males tended to leave trails of small drops of urine whereas mainland males typically released a smaller quantity of urine at each urination.
Behavioural responses of lynx to declining snowshoe hare abundance
- Environmental Science
- 1985
The behavioural responses of lynx to declines in snowshoe hare abundance were examined in the southwestern Yukon and three of seven radio tagged lynx dispersed 250 km or more from the study area during the 1982 period of rapid hare decline.
Numerical and Functional Responses of Kestrels, Short‐Eared Owls, and Long‐Eared Owls to Vole Densities
- Environmental Science
- 1991
The pooled functional response curve of these three raptor species to the fluctuating densities of Microtus spp.
Rapid or delayed tracking of multi-annual vole cycles by avian predators?
- Environmental Science
- 1994
The relationship between the yearly densities of avian predators and their microtine prey in western Finland was studied and Tengmalm's, Ural and hawk owls overwinter in Fennoscandia, long-eared owls are partially migratory, and short-eared owl and kestrels are migratory.
Urine marking by male bank voles (Clethrionomys glareolus Schreber, 1780; Microtidae, Rodentia) in relation to their social rank
- Biology
- 1987
The present laboratory work reports on the agonistic and urinary behaviour of paired, hierarchically naive, male bank voles (Clethrionomys glareolus) before, during, and after free interaction in large enclosures provided with individual burrows.
Clutch size, breeding success and brood size experiments in Tengmalm's Owl Aegolius funereus: a test of hypotheses
- Biology
- 1987
The amount of food available to the egg-laying female is the critical factor for the determination of clutch size and young of enlarged broods tended to achieve slightly lower weight at fledging than did young from reduced broods, which indicates that their phenotypic quality and therefore later survival might be lower.
Hummingbirds see near ultraviolet light.
- BiologyScience
- 1980
Three species of hummingbird were trained to make visual discriminations between lights of different spectral content and birds of all three species were able to distinguish near ultraviolet from darkness or from the small amount of far red light that leaked through the ultraviolet-transmitting glass filter.
Population oscillations of boreal rodents: regulation by mustelid predators leads to chaos
- Environmental Science, BiologyNature
- 1993
The results suggest that the multiannual oscillations of rodent populations in Fennoscandia are due to delayed density dependence imposed by mustelid predators, and are chaotic.