Responses of Redshank, Tringa totanus, to the Absolute and Relative Densities of two Prey Species

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Abstract
The diet of redshank T. totanus (L.) feeding mainly on the amphipod Corophium volutator (Pallas) and the polychaete Nereis diversicolor (O.F. Muller), was studied in small muddy areas within which prey density was uniform. In eight sites in southern England, redshank fed on Corophium supraproportionally when Corophium was abundant relative to Nereis but did not do so in 9 sites on the Ythan estuary, Scotland [United Kingdon]. Redshank were probably responding to the absolute abundance of Corophium. Supraproportional predation apparently occurred in the southern sites because the ratio (Corophium density/Nereis density) increased as the density of Corophium increased and because redshank concentrated their feeding increasingly on the amphipod as its density rose.