Trophic Links of the Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata) in Transformed Forest Ecosystems of North-Eastern Ukraine

Authors

  • Angela Chaplygina Department of Zoology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, H.S. Skovoroda Kharkiv National Pedagogical University http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3574-5120
  • Nadiia Savynska Department of Zoology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, H.S. Skovoroda Kharkiv National Pedagogical University
  • Viktor Brygadyrenko Department of Zoology and Ecology, Faculty of Biology, Ecology and Medicine, Oles Honchar Dnipro National University http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9448-8232

Abstract

The diet of the spotted flycatcher was studied (Muscicapa striata Pallas, 1764) to reveal its trophic links and subsistence of bird populations in transformed ecosystems of North-Eastern Ukraine. A total of 75 invertebrate taxa were found in the diet. Insects made up 94.8%: imagoes of Diptera (39.8%), Hymenoptera (24.2%), Lepidoptera (17.2%), Odonata (7.9%), Coleoptera (5.1%), etc. Large-sized insects dominated. Qualitative composition of the nestling diet of spotted flycathers was composed of zoophages (31.7%), phytophages (29.4%), saprophages (20.1%), polyphages (12.0%), and necrophages (6.7%). Invertebrate trophic groups were almost equally distributed in the nestling diet according to the number of taken objects: zoophages (22.0%), polyphages (21.0%), phytophages (21.0%), necrophages (20.0%), and saprophages (16.0%). Environmental conditions play an important role affecting the diet structure. The most favourable feeding conditions for the species were found in protected natural areas. The analysis showed that the forage intake of flycatchers was equal in all the sites. The highest invertebrate diversity was found in model site 2 (Natural Nature Park “Homilshanski Forests”) – 62 taxa, and in model site 4 (National Nature Park “Hetmanskyi”) – 33 taxa. Similarity indices were higher in model site 3 (30) compared to site 1 (26) showing that birds could switch between different invertebrate species thus causing the formation of ecological pre-adaptations and further synanthropisation of the species. The highest indices of Jaccard (57.5%) and Sorensen (73.0%) for 23 taxa of invertebrates were revealed in model sites 3 and 4.

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Published

2018-12-31

How to Cite

Chaplygina, A., Savynska, N., & Brygadyrenko, V. (2018). Trophic Links of the Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata) in Transformed Forest Ecosystems of North-Eastern Ukraine. Baltic Forestry, 24(2), 304–312. Retrieved from https://balticforestryojs.lammc.lt/ojs/index.php/BF/article/view/214

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Forest protection