caa a22 4500 606164790 CHVBK 20210128100650.0 cr unu---uuuuu 210128e20150701xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10144-015-0497-y doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10144-015-0497-y Habitat displacement effect between two competing owl species in fragmented forests [Elektronische Daten] [Łukasz Kajtoch, Michał Żmihorski, Paweł Wieczorek] Many owl species use the same nesting and food resources, which causes strong interspecific competition and spatio-temporal niche separation. We made use of a recent colonisation of Ural Owls (Strix uralensis) in southern Poland to compare habitat preferences of Tawny Owls (Strix aluco) allopatry and sympatry with Ural Owls. We investigated spatial niche segregation of Ural Owl and the Tawny Owl in sympatry and compared habitat preferences of Tawny Owls breeding in allopatry and sympatry. Tawny Owls breeding in sympatry with Ural Owls occupied forests with higher canopy compactness, sites located closer to forest border and to built-up areas, as well as stands with a higher share of fir and spruce and a lower share of beech as compared to sites occupied by Ural Owls. Allopatric Tawny Owls occupied sites with lower canopy compactness and bred at sites located further from forest borders and in stands with lower share of fir and spruce and a higher share of deciduous as compared to sympatric Tawny Owls. As Ural owls are dominant in relation to Tawny Owls, this indicates that the presence of Ural Owls prevents Tawny Owls from occupying deciduous-dominated and old stands located in forest interior areas, far from buildings and forest edges. The results support habitat displacement between the two species when breeding in sympatry. We also show that protection of large forest patches is crucial for the Ural Owl, a species still rare in central Europe, while small patches are occupied by the abundant Tawny Owl. The Author(s), 2015 Habitat fragmentation nationallicence Intraguild predation nationallicence Spatial segregation nationallicence Strix aluco nationallicence Strix uralensis nationallicence Sympatry nationallicence Kajtoch Łukasz Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals, Polish Academy of Sciences, Sławkowska 17, 31-016, Krakow, Poland aut Żmihorski Michał Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7044, SE 75007, Uppsala, Sweden aut Wieczorek Paweł Regional Directorate for Environmental Protection in Krakow, Plac Na Stawach 3, 30-107, Krakow, Poland aut Population Ecology Springer Japan 57/3(2015-07-01), 517-527 1438-3896 57:3<517 2015 57 10144 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10144-015-0497-y text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10144-015-0497-y text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Kajtoch Łukasz Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals, Polish Academy of Sciences, Sławkowska 17, 31-016, Krakow, Poland aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Żmihorski Michał Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7044, SE 75007, Uppsala, Sweden aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Wieczorek Paweł Regional Directorate for Environmental Protection in Krakow, Plac Na Stawach 3, 30-107, Krakow, Poland aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Population Ecology Springer Japan 57/3(2015-07-01), 517-527 1438-3896 57:3<517 2015 57 10144