Birds foraging for fruits and insects in shrubby restinga vegetation, southeastern Brazil

Abstract

Understanding how birds use vegetation to obtain food resources has implications for habitat conservation and management. Restinga is a poorly known and threatened tropical habitat, associated to the Atlantic forest, that could benefit from this kind of information to know which plants can be used and dispersed by birds that can help on the maintenance of this habitat. Frugivorous and insectivorous birds are important components of tropical ecosystems, such as restinga. To provide more information regarding the ecology of restinga, we studied the feeding behavior and spatial use of this vegetation by birds at Restinga de Jurubatiba National Park, southeastern Brazil. We found that feeding behavior was similar to that recorded for the same species in other vegetation types. In addition, spatial use of the restinga vegetation by the most abundant species did not overlap greatly, except for two insectivorous species that used different foraging maneuvers and two frugivorous birds that foraged in flocks. The two most abundant species were generalists in their diet and were capable of feeding at the ground level on sand substrate. Resumo: O conhecimento das estratégias de uso da vegetação pela fauna para forrageio tem implicações para conservação e manejo de habitats. Restinga é um ambiente tropical, associado à Mata Atlântica, ameaçado e ainda pouco conhecido que poderia se beneficiar desse tipo de informação para conhecer quais espécies de plantas podem ser utilizadas e dispersas por aves que atuem na manutenção deste habitat. Aves frugívoras e insetívoras são importantes componentes de ecossistemas tropicais, como a restinga. Para fornecer mais informações sobre a ecologia da restinga, nós estudamos o comportamento de forrageio e o uso do espaço das aves no Parque Nacional da Restinga de Jurubatiba, sudeste do Brasil. Nós encontramos que os comportamentos de forrageio foram similares àqueles registrados para as mesmas espécies em outros ambientes. Além disso, o uso do espaço da vegetação de restinga pelas espécies mais abundantes não apresentou grande sobreposição, exceto por duas espécies insetívoras que usaram manobras de forrageio diferentes e duas aves frugívoras que forragearam em bando. As duas espécies mais abundantes foram generalistas em suas dietas e foram capazes de forragear no chão sobre areia nua. Palavras-chave: Mata Atlântica, comportamento, dieta, Mimus gilvus, Zonotrichia capensis.

Diet of some passerines in south coast of Espírito Santo State, Brazil

“…Other studies in Atlantic Forest (Durães & Marini, 2005) and Cerrado (Piratelli & Pereira, 2002) found similar results. Gomes et al (2008) showed a prevalence of frugivorous species in a restinga area of Rio de Janeiro, but this result was obtained through direct observation method and fecal analysis. All of three representatives of the Thamnophilidae family found in the study area were classified as insectivorous.…”

Pengaruh kekayaan jenis tumbuhan sumber pakan terhadap keanekaragaman burung herbivora di Taman Nasional Bantimurung Bulusaraung, Sulawesi Selatan

“…Berdasarkan lokasi makannya burung herbivora memiliki stratifikasi ketinggian mencari makan yang berbeda-beda (Gomes et al 2008). Terdapat jenis yang mengkonsumsi pakannya pada puncak pohon, seperti jenisjenis burung yang tergolong dalam familia Psittaceae, Bucerotidae.…”

Effects of rainfall on bird reproduction in a semi-arid Neotropical region

“…We analyzed the data according to: (i) the total number of species, and (ii) the food guild of each species. We used existing dietary information on the species captured (based on: mooJen et al 1941, SchuBArt 1965, mottA-JúnIor 1990, poulIn et al 1993, gomeS et al 2008) to establish the following feeding guilds: pure insectivores, insectivores-frugivores, insectivores-granivores, granivores and omnivores. Rainfall data were obtained from a publicly-available database belonging to the INMET (Mossoro Station A318, http://www.inmet.gov.br/ portal/index.php?r = estacoes/estacoesautomaticas).…”