Causa de la dieta de aves granívoras

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Título

Causa de la dieta de aves granívoras

Autor(es)

Marone, Luis

Afiliación(es) del/de los autor(es)

Marone, Luis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas; Argentina

Resumen

We evaluated whether seed mass, handling time, handling efficiency and profitability account for (a) preferences in controlled experiments and (b) field-diet composition of four bird species of the Monte desert, Argentina. The question of whether birds maximise their energy intake rates while feeding on seeds is assessed. We used feeding experiments with six native seed species of 0.07–0.75 mg (i.e. the seed-size range consumed in nature), which account for 0.59–0.84 of the field diet of the four birds. We measured seed-handling times and used published information on bird preferences and diets, and on seed chemistry, for further calculations. Bird preferences were always positively related to seed mass and also to seed profitability in the two intermediatesized birds. Diet composition correlated positively with seed mass and negatively with seed profitability in three species, but some birds also showed a flexible behaviour eating the most attractive seeds according to their availability. This behaviour is not genuinely opportunistic because it only focuses on a restricted fraction of the total seed species present in the field. Contrary to expectations of species coexistence due to resource partitioning, small and large birds showed similar feeding efficiencies when eating the smaller and the larger seeds. The positive association between seed mass and profitability in several studies suggests that most birds can maximise their energy reward, on average and in the long-term, by preferring the larger seeds. A combination of potential feeding optimisation with certain flexibility in the field may characterise the feeding ecology of desert seed-eating birds.

Año de publicación

2024

Idioma

inglés

Formato (Tipo MIME)

application/zip

Clasificación temática de acuerdo a la FORD

Ciencias biológicas

Condiciones de uso

Disponible en acceso abierto bajo licencia Creative Commons https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/

Repositorio digital

CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas

Identificador de proyecto

Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas/PUE 042