Tall, heterogenous forests improve prey capture, delivery to nestlings, and reproductive success for Spotted Owls in southern California

Predator-prey interactions can be profoundly influenced by vegetation conditions, particularly when predator and prey prefer different habitats. Although such interactions have proven challenging to study for small and cryptic predators, recent methodological advances substantially improve opportunities for understanding how vegetation influences prey acquisition and strengthen conservation planning for this group. The California Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis occidentalis) is well-known as an old-forest species of conservation concern, but whose primary prey in many regions – woodrats (Neotoma spp.) – occurs in a broad range of vegetation conditions. Here, we used high-resolution GPS tracking coupled with nest video monitoring to test the hypothesis that prey capture rates vary as a function of vegetation structure and heterogeneity, with emergent, reproductive consequences for Spotted Owls in Southern California. Foraging owls were more successful capturing prey, including woodrats, ..., See README DOCUMENT
Naming conventions
*RSF or prey refers to prey capture analysis
*delivery in a file name refers to delivery rate analysis
*repro in a filename means that file is for the delivery rate analysis
 
Setup
*files with vegetation data should work with minimal alteration(will need to specify working directory) with associated R code for each analysis
*Shapefiles were made in ArcGIS pro but they can be opened with any GIS software such as QGIS.
 
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Locational data files
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NOTE LOCATIONAL DATA IS SHIFTED AND ROTATED FROM THE ORIGINAL -due to the sensitive nature of this species. The locational_data includes:
*          All_2021_owls_shifted
            *          Point file showing all GPS tag locations for prey capture analysis
            *          Attributes include:
                        *          TERRITORY ID: Numerical identifier for each bird
                        *          Year: year GPS tag was recorded
                 ..., Shapefiles were made in ArcGIS pro but they can be opened with any GIS software such as QGIS.