Elevation, rather than land use, causes important dietary shifts in the Mediterranean golden eagle

Abstract Apex predators play a crucial role in maintaining ecosystem functioning and biodiversity, and studying their diet is key to understanding habitat dynamics. In the context of global change, predators must adapt to both natural ecological gradients such as elevation and human‐driven impacts, including climate and land‐use changes. Using camera traps, we assessed the diet of Mediterranean golden eagles ( Aquila chrysaetos homeyeri ) across the Iberian Peninsula. We reviewed 520 282 images collected over 1365 monitoring days, spanning 50 distinct reproductive events over four breeding seasons (2017–2020). We analyzed the frequency and biomass of each prey species in relation to elevation and land use, which have recently experienced significant anthropogenic changes, mostly due to climate change and rural abandonment. Elevation rather than land use emerged as the primary driver of dietary variation. Lagomorphs and Columbiformes dominated their diet at lower elevations, while wild ungulates and reptiles increased at higher elevations. Despite lagomorphs being the most frequently consumed prey, wild ungulates (mostly roe deer) and reptiles represented a higher proportion than previous studies. This pattern may reflect the combined effect of rural abandonment and climate change which are reshaping prey communities in the Iberian Peninsula, as well as improved detection of small prey such as squamates through camera trapping. Overall, our findings highlight the high adaptability of golden eagles to changes in prey availability under ongoing anthropogenic global change.