Population size, provisioning frequency, flock size and foraging range at the largest known colony of Psittaciformes: the Burrowing Parrots of the north-eastern Patagonian coastal cliffs

Masello, Juan F.; Pagnossin, María Luján; Sommer, Christina; Quillfeldt, Petra

doi:10.1071/mu04047

Cited by 48 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…A greater proportion of this time, however, is spent on manipulation and consumption of food (e.g. Masello et al, 2006). Although foraging times obtained with the currently available foraging enrichment are significantly increased compared to baseline, they are still likely to be too short to naturalize foraging times of captive parrots.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Efficacy of foraging enrichments to increase foraging time in Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus erithacus)

Zeeland

Schoemaker

Ravesteijn

et al. 2013

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

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a b s t r a c tForaging enrichment is considered one of the most effective strategies to improve welfare and reduce stereotypies and other abnormal repetitive behaviours in captive animals, including parrots. Few studies, however, have investigated the effects of the different types of enrichment and determined their effect on increasing foraging times and foraging-related activities.To study the effect of different types of enrichment on foraging activity, eleven types of foraging enrichment [multiple bowls, mixing food with inedible items, larger-sized food particles, and 8 puzzle feeders] were tested in 12 Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus erithacus). After acclimatization and assessment of baseline foraging times, enrichments were presented in a random order. Video recordings were used to analyze total foraging times and times spent on the different foraging activities. In addition, the frequencies and duration of foraging bouts, and the times at which they occurred, were determined. The learning curves and presence of habituation to the enrichment over a 1-week period were also assessed.Parrots needed 8.3 ± 1.1 days to learn how to use the foraging enrichments. For two of the puzzle feeders, it took considerably longer. Nine out of eleven foraging enrichments were able to significantly increase foraging times, with the most effective enrichments resulting in a 2-to 2.5-fold increase compared to baseline values (47 ± 18 min). The increases in time spent on foraging could be attributed to an increased amount of time spent on enrichmentrelated activities and/or an increased amount of time spent on food-related activities. None of the enrichments (including the use of multiple bowls in different locations) resulted in significant increases in time spent on locomotory behaviours (i.e. movement towards or away from the feeding site). No significant downwards trends in foraging times were observed over the 1-week observation period. The duration of the observations may, however, have been too short to demonstrate habituation effects.Results of this study show that distinct differences are present in the difficulty level, efficacy and time allocation, thereby affecting the choice for a particular foraging enrichment. Although most of the foraging enrichments were able to significantly increase foraging time, none of the enrichments were able to increase foraging times to levels comparable with that of wild conspecifics (i.e. 4-6 hours per day). New, more effective types of foraging enrichment should therefore be developed and tested.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Efficacy of foraging enrichments to increase foraging time in Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus erithacus)

Zeeland

Schoemaker

Ravesteijn

et al. 2013

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

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“…Owing to its persecution as a pest species [[37] and references therein], several colonies have been destroyed or severely reduced in size, including the extirpation of the largest known colony of some 50,000 nests [87]. Collection of burrowing parrots for the pet trade was also encouraged [88] and population reductions continued to reach levels considerable enough for the regional government of the Río Negro province to ban all hunting and trade (resolutions 23-DF-2004, 24-DF-2004, Dirección de Fauna de la Provincia de Río Negro, Argentina), thereby extending legal protection to all but seven Patagonian colonies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[37,38,47-57]]. Fieldwork was carried out from November to December 2007 (Argentina), February 2008 (northern Chile) and from October to November 2008 (Argentina).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The high Andes, gene flow and a stable hybrid zone shape the genetic structure of a wide-ranging South American parrot

et al. 2011

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BackgroundWhile the gene flow in some organisms is strongly affected by physical barriers and geographical distance, other highly mobile species are able to overcome such constraints. In southern South America, the Andes (here up to 6,900 m) may constitute a formidable barrier to dispersal. In addition, this region was affected by cycles of intercalating arid/moist periods during the Upper/Late Pleistocene and Holocene. These factors may have been crucial in driving the phylogeographic structure of the vertebrate fauna of the region. Here we test these hypotheses in the burrowing parrot Cyanoliseus patagonus (Aves, Psittaciformes) across its wide distributional range in Chile and Argentina.ResultsOur data show a Chilean origin for this species, with a single migration event across the Andes during the Upper/Late Pleistocene, which gave rise to all extant Argentinean mitochondrial lineages. Analyses suggest a complex population structure for burrowing parrots in Argentina, which includes a hybrid zone that has remained stable for several thousand years. Within this zone, introgression by expanding haplotypes has resulted in the evolution of an intermediate phenotype. Multivariate regressions show that present day climatic variables have a strong influence on the distribution of genetic heterogeneity, accounting for almost half of the variation in the data.ConclusionsHere we show how huge barriers like the Andes and the regional environmental conditions imposed constraints on the ability of a parrot species to colonise new habitats, affecting the way in which populations diverged and thus, genetic structure. When contact between divergent populations was re-established, a stable hybrid zone was formed, functioning as a channel for genetic exchange between populations.

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“…In general, the abundance of Burrowing Parrots is highly variable (Bucher and Rinaldi 1986). In some parts of its range in Argentina, this species is common or abundant (particularly the subspecies patagonus; see Masello et al 2006), but elsewhere it is rare or occasional (Bucher and Rinaldi 1986). This species has suffered a clear retraction since the early nineteenth century (Bucher and Rinaldi 1986).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Isolation of tetranucleotide microsatellite loci in the burrowing parrot (Cyanoliseus patagonus)

et al. 2009

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We isolated seven novel polymorphic microsatellite DNA loci from the burrowing parrot (Cyanoliseus patagonus) and optimised them for future studies of population differentiation and genetic variation. The loci were screened for polymorphism using 38 samples from wild individuals from three neighbouring colonies in Argentina. The primers amplified highly variable loci characterised by 3-10 alleles per locus and their observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.15 to 0.78 and 0.15 to 0.81, respectively. When we analysed 52 samples across Argentina and Chile, we found strong genetic differentiation between the Chilean and the Argentinean subspecies as well as significant differentiation between two geographically separated subspecies within Argentina. Our results indicate the suitability of these microsatellites for investigating further questions regarding the population genetics in this species.

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Population size, provisioning frequency, flock size and foraging range at the largest known colony of Psittaciformes: the Burrowing Parrots of the north-eastern Patagonian coastal cliffs

Cited by 48 publications

References 28 publications

Efficacy of foraging enrichments to increase foraging time in Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus erithacus)

Efficacy of foraging enrichments to increase foraging time in Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus erithacus)

The high Andes, gene flow and a stable hybrid zone shape the genetic structure of a wide-ranging South American parrot

Isolation of tetranucleotide microsatellite loci in the burrowing parrot (Cyanoliseus patagonus)

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