Date: May 11, 2017
Source: Senckenberg Research
Institute and Natural History Museum
Researchers from Senckenberg and
the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research have found that South
American birds that are seasonally specialized on particular fruit types are
the most flexible in switching to different fruit types in other seasons. This
flexibility in their diet is good news in view of the predicted loss of plant
species under global change. The study is published in the Journal of Animal
Ecology.
The Plumbeous pigeon is a picky
eater. Whereas its relatives on European streets and squares feed on whatever
they encounter, its South American relative almost exclusively feeds on certain
fruits. Together with other birds such as toucans or the turkey-like guans it
belongs to a bunch of large fruit-eating birds that are specialized on particular
types of fruits. One might think that being peculiar goes hand-in-hand with
being inflexible in food choice -- however, it does not.
"We compared neotropic
fruit-eating birds that are specialized on a small range of fruit resources in
a particular season with birds that eat a large ranage of fruits. The
specialists are those which are most flexible in adapting their foraging
choices across seasons," explains Irene Bender, Senckenberg Biodiversity
and Climate Research Centre and German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity
Research (iDiv), lead author of a new study on this topic. She adds "The
flexible avian fruit eaters prefer to feed on large fruits. However, their
favourite resources are not constantly available throughout the year which forces
them to switch."
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