Published in Scientific Papers. Series A. Agronomy, Vol. LXIII, Issue 2
Written by Victoria NISTREANU, Alina LARION
The winter trophic spectrum of two Asio otus colonies from Chisinau city was studied. There were collected and analysed 1432 pellets form the first colony (Ciocana district, 60 individuals) and 528 pellets from the second colony (Botanica district, 22 individuals). After the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the pellets 3567 individuals in Ciocana pellets and 1584 individuals in Botanica pellets were identified. The long-eared owl diet in both sites consists mostly of rodents - more than 90% of all identified animals, the birds constituted 4.93% and 3.35%, the shrews and the bats constituted less than 2%. The main prey of A. otus were the Microtus species, which constituted 61.9% in Ciocana pellets and 63.38% in Botanica pellets, followed by Apodemus sylvaticus (14.02% and 17.99%) and by the Mus species with 12.42% and 14.21%, respectively. Other rodent species registered less than 5%. Thus, the trophic spectrum of long-eared owl in winter period in urban area consists mostly of field vole. The proportion of synanthropic pest species Mus is rather high, which prove the huge importance of long-eared owl trophic activity in urban ecosystems.
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