title: Mesopredators constrain a top predator: competitive release of ravens after culling crows.
abstract: Although predator control programmes rarely consider complex competitive interactions among predators, it is becoming clear that removal of larger 'superior' competitors often releases the 'inferior' ones and can precipitate trophic cascades. In contrast, our study indicates that culling hooded crows Corvus cornix appears to release a larger competitor, the common raven Corvus corax. Ravens ranged more widely, and the predation of artificial nests was significantly faster (although total predation was similar), after the removal of crows. Our study provides evidence of a novel reversal of competitive release where a larger species was freed from constraints imposed on its distribution and behaviour by a smaller species, and emphasizes the importance of considering community and ecosystem effects of predator manipulations when undertaken for conservation or game management.
authors: Quercus, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT9 7BL, UK. equesecho@yahoo.co.uk
authors: Thomas W
authors: TW
authors: Bodey
authors: Robbie A
authors: RA
authors: McDonald
authors: Stuart
authors: S
authors: Bearhop
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003163:Competitive Behavior; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods; D046368:Crows / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D020387:Food Chain; D008297:Male; D011156:Population Density; D011235:Predatory Behavior