Seasonal diet of the burrowing owl Athene cunicularia Molina, 1782 (Strigidae) in a hyperarid ecosystem of the Atacama desert in northern Chile
- Carevic, Felipe S.
- Carmona Ortíz, Erico
- Muñoz Pedreros, Andrés
DOIAbstract
Located in the Atacama desert of northern Chile, Pampa del Tamarugal is a hyperarid ecosystem characterized by extreme arid conditions (<0.7 mm of annual precipitation) and relatively scarce vegetation, dominated by arboreal species of Prosopis tamarugo. These unfavorable environmental conditions can affect the quantity and diversity of prey available for carnivores, making Pampa del Tamarugal an interesting environmental scenario for the study of the trophic ecology of raptors. Our analyses of the seasonal diet of the burrowing owl Athene cunicularia (Molina, 1782) indicate that insects and scorpions were the most common prey (58.3% and 27.5%, respectively). However, the rodent Phyllotis darwini was the most important prey in biomass (49.5...
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