Food Habits of 4 Species of Wading Birds (Ardeidae) in a Tropical Mangrove Swamp

Miranda, Leopoldo; Collazo, Jaime A.

doi:10.2307/1521591

Cited by 41 publications

(17 citation statements)

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“…In the Yucatan peninsula, Ramo and Busto [23] found that boluses regurgitated by nestlings were composed almost entirely of fish and almost entirely of a single species ( Astyanax fasciatus ). In a Puerto Rican estuary, Miranda and Collazo [24] found that 13 adult stomachs collected during the nonbreeding season contained a more varied diet, with at least seven species of fish about equal in importance. In addition, crustaceans and insects made up a significant portion of the diet in Puerto Rico, a feature not seen in this or other studies.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Exposure of great egret (Ardea albus) nestlings to mercury through diet in the everglades ecosystem

Frederick

Spalding

Sepalveda

et al. 1999

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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Abstract-We estimated exposure of great egret (Ardea albus) nestlings to mercury in food in the Florida Everglades, USA, by collecting regurgitated food samples during the 1993 to 1996 breeding seasons and during 1995 measured concentrations of mercury in individual prey items from those samples. Great egret nestlings had a diet composed predominantly of fish (Ͼ95% of biomass), though the species composition of fish in the diet fluctuated considerably among years. Great egrets concentrated on the larger fish available in the marsh, especially members of the Centrarchidae. The importance of all nonnative fish fluctuated from 0 to 32% of the diet by biomass and was dominated by pike killifish (Belonesox belizanus) and cichlids (Cichlidae). Total mercury concentrations in prey fish ranged from 0.04 to 1.40 mg/kg wet weight, and we found a significant relationship between mass of individual fish and mercury concentration. We estimated the concentration of total mercury in the diet as a whole by weighting the mercury concentration in a given fish species by the proportion of that species in the diet. We estimate that total mercury concentrations in the diets ranged among years from 0.37 to 0.47 mg/kg fish (4-year mean ϭ 0.41 mg/kg). We estimated total mercury exposure in great egret nestlings by combining these mercury concentrations with measurements of food intake rate, as measured over the course of the nestling period in both lab and field situations. We estimate that, at the 0.41 mg/kg level, nestlings would ingest 4.32 mg total mercury during an 80-day nestling period. Captive feeding studies reported elsewhere suggest that this level of exposure in the wild could be associated with reduced fledging mass, increased lethargy, decreased appetite, and, possibly, poor health and juvenile survival.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Exposure of great egret (Ardea albus) nestlings to mercury through diet in the everglades ecosystem

Frederick

Spalding

Sepalveda

et al. 1999

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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“…Such behaviour would need to be modified in the face of predation. For example, the presence of piscivorous wading birds (Miranda & Collazo 1997) may increase the risk of occupying the shallowest water possible, although the effect is not simple (Crowder et al 1997), and the presence of active predatory fish (Blaber 1986) would probably make a slow movement across open habitats undesirable. Where the major incentive for entering mangroves is to access food, following the shallow-water edge as the tide rises would provide the opportunity to be the first to access rich supplies of food (Sheridan 1997, Gibson 2003 as they become available.…”

Section: Tactics For Interhabitat Migrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nature and consequences of biological connectivity in mangrove systems

Sheaves¹

2005

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

164

123

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Mangroves are important nursery and feeding areas for fish. Their rich invertebrate faunas render them productive feeding areas, while their shallow waters and structural complexity provide sanctuary habitats at a variety of scales. However, in most parts of the world mangroves are available to fish for only part of the time because they are alternately inundated and exposed by the high-tide/low-tide cycle. As a result, few fish can use mangroves exclusively but must migrate in and out of the mangroves with the tide, occupying alternative habitats when mangroves are unavailable. These movements connect the mangroves and the alternative habitats to form an 'interconnected habitat mosaic'. Living in a habitat mosaic puts limits on the patterns of life possible in mangrove systems, complicates trophic structures, and creates the need for tactics and strategies to meet the challenges imposed by movement among components of the mosaic. Moreover, this biological connectivity means that understandings of trophic relationships, life-history strategies, predation and mortality, and patterns of distribution and abundance must be set in a spatially and temporally variable context. Despite the obvious consequences and importance of biological connectivity in mangrove ecosystems, it has often not been given appropriate consideration in the development of theories and paradigms. KEY WORDS: Biological connectivity · Mangrove · Estuary · Fish · MovementResale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisher

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“…Although the diet of the Little Blue Heron is diverse, including fish, amphibians, crustaceans, and insects, the proportions of prey items differ among regions, and in some areas it appears to be a specialist in one or a few food recourses (Kushlan & hancocK, 2005). A preliminary analysis of food during the breeding season suggests that the Little Blue Herons in the Patos Lagoon estuary feed their young mainly with crustaceans, as they do in mangrove areas (miranDa & collazo, 1997;olmos et al, 2001;olmos & silva e silva, 2003). However, in this study, small shrimps were found to be the most frequent and abundant prey, while in the mangroves of the state of São Paulo crabs were most abundant (between 75% to 85% of prey), especially the semi-terrestrial species Aratus pisoni (H. Milne Edwards, 1837) and Armases rubriceps (Rathbun, 1897) (olmos et al, 2001; olmos & silva e silva, 2003).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Abundance, breeding and food of the Little Blue Heron Egretta caerulea (Aves, Ardeidae) in the Patos Lagoon estuary, a recently colonized area in southern Brazil

Gianuca

Vooren

2012

Iheringia, Sér. Zool.

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ABSTRACT. We document the expansion of the breeding distribution of the Little Blue Heron Egretta caerulea (Linnaeus, 1758) to 850 km beyond its previous southern limit in South America. In addition we present data on abundance, breeding biology and food of the species in the Patos Lagoon estuary, the area which the species recently colonized. The maximum abundance recorded in the breeding colony and in a nocturnal roosting site was 53 and 49 individuals respectively. Nesting occurred from September to March. Birds nested in a mixed breeding colony together with about 3,000 breeding pairs of seven other species of Pelecaniformes, in a swampy forest near the margin of the estuary. Five nests were between 1.5 and 4.3 m from the ground, on the shrub Daphnopsis racemosa (Thymelaeaceae), on the trees Sebastiana brasiliensis (Euphorbiaceae) and Mimosa bimucronata (Leguminosae), or on the bamboo Bambusa sp. (Poaceae). Four nests produced two fledglings each, while one nest was abandoned. Of 13 grouped samples of food regurgitated by five nestlings, Pink Shrimp Farfantepenaeus paulensis (PerezFarfante, 1967) constituted 70% in mass, while total length of ingested fishes and shrimps varied mostly between 20 and 50 mm. Estuarine prey items represented 99% of the total food mass. The recent southward expansion of the breeding range of the Little Blue Heron in South America may be a response to climate warming of the Patos Lagoon estuary. Degradation of estuaries in the southwestern Atlantic may also be forcing the birds to breed in areas outside previous geographical range. KEYWORDS.Climate change, herons, reproduction, Rio Grande do Sul, range expansion.RESUMO. Abundância, reprodução e alimentação da garça-azul Egretta caerulea no estuário da Lagoa dos Patos, uma área recentemente colonizada no sul do Brasil. No presente trabalho é documentada a expansão da distribuição reprodutiva da garça-azul Egretta caerulea (Linnaeus, 1758) 850 km para o sul das colônias mais austrais previamente conhecidas. Adicionalmente, são apresentadas informações sobre abundância, reprodução e alimentação da espécie no estuário da Lagos dos Patos, região recentemente colonizada no extremo sul do Brasil. As garças-azuis nidificaram em uma colônia multiespecífica localizada em uma mata paludosa às margens do estuário, contendo outras sete espécies de Pelecaniformes, totalizando cerca de 3.000 pares reprodutivos. O período reprodutivo se estendeu de setembro até fins de março, e as maiores abundâncias registradas na colônia e no dormitório foram 53 e 49 indivíduos, respectivamente. Foram encontrados cinco ninhos, construídos sobre árvores Sebastiana brasiliensis (Euphorbiaceae) ou Mimosa bimucronata (Leguminosae), arbustos Daphnopsis racemosa (Thymelaeaceae), ou bambus Bambusa sp. (Poaceae), em alturas entre 1,5 e 4,3 m acima do solo. Quatro ninhos produziram dois filhotes cada, e um foi abandonado. Em uma análise preliminar da dieta, baseada em 13 amostras de alimento regurgitado de cinco filhotes, verificou-se que camarões-rosa Farfantepenaeus ...

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Food Habits of 4 Species of Wading Birds (Ardeidae) in a Tropical Mangrove Swamp

Cited by 41 publications

References 0 publications

Exposure of great egret (Ardea albus) nestlings to mercury through diet in the everglades ecosystem

Exposure of great egret (Ardea albus) nestlings to mercury through diet in the everglades ecosystem

Nature and consequences of biological connectivity in mangrove systems

Abundance, breeding and food of the Little Blue Heron Egretta caerulea (Aves, Ardeidae) in the Patos Lagoon estuary, a recently colonized area in southern Brazil

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