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Bird preferences for fruit size, but not color, vary in accordance with fruit traits along a tropical elevational gradient

Birds constitute one of the most important seed dispersal agents globally, especially in the tropics. The feeding preferences of frugivorous birds are, therefore, potentially of great ecological importance. A number of laboratory‐based and observational studies have attempted to ascertain the prefer...

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Autores principales: Hazell, Richard J., Sam, Katerina, Sreekar, Rachakonda, Yama, Samson, Koagouw, Wulan, Stewart, Alan J. A., Peck, Mika R.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9929344/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36818525
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9835
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author Hazell, Richard J.
Sam, Katerina
Sreekar, Rachakonda
Yama, Samson
Koagouw, Wulan
Stewart, Alan J. A.
Peck, Mika R.
author_facet Hazell, Richard J.
Sam, Katerina
Sreekar, Rachakonda
Yama, Samson
Koagouw, Wulan
Stewart, Alan J. A.
Peck, Mika R.
author_sort Hazell, Richard J.
collection PubMed
description Birds constitute one of the most important seed dispersal agents globally, especially in the tropics. The feeding preferences of frugivorous birds are, therefore, potentially of great ecological importance. A number of laboratory‐based and observational studies have attempted to ascertain the preferences of certain bird species for certain fruit traits. However, little attention has been paid to community‐wide preferences of frugivorous birds and the impact this may have on fruit traits on a broader scale. Here, we used artificial fruits of different colors and sizes to investigate community‐wide fruit trait preferences of birds at three sites along an elevational gradient in Papua New Guinea. We recorded attack rates on artificial fruits as visible impressions made by a bird's beak during a feeding attempt. We also measured the colors and sizes of real fruits at each site, and the gape widths of frugivorous birds, allowing for comparisons between bird feeding preferences and bird and fruit traits. Regardless of elevation, red and purple fruits were universally preferred to green and attacked at similar rates to one another, despite strong elevational patterns in real fruit color. However, elevation had a significant effect on fruit size preferences. A weak, non‐significant preference for large fruits was recorded at 700 m, while medium fruits were strongly preferred at 1700 m and small fruits at 2700 m. These patterns mirror those of both real fruit size and frugivorous bird gape width along the gradient, suggesting the potential for selective pressure of birds on fruit size at different elevations.
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spelling pubmed-99293442023-02-16 Bird preferences for fruit size, but not color, vary in accordance with fruit traits along a tropical elevational gradient Hazell, Richard J. Sam, Katerina Sreekar, Rachakonda Yama, Samson Koagouw, Wulan Stewart, Alan J. A. Peck, Mika R. Ecol Evol Research Articles Birds constitute one of the most important seed dispersal agents globally, especially in the tropics. The feeding preferences of frugivorous birds are, therefore, potentially of great ecological importance. A number of laboratory‐based and observational studies have attempted to ascertain the preferences of certain bird species for certain fruit traits. However, little attention has been paid to community‐wide preferences of frugivorous birds and the impact this may have on fruit traits on a broader scale. Here, we used artificial fruits of different colors and sizes to investigate community‐wide fruit trait preferences of birds at three sites along an elevational gradient in Papua New Guinea. We recorded attack rates on artificial fruits as visible impressions made by a bird's beak during a feeding attempt. We also measured the colors and sizes of real fruits at each site, and the gape widths of frugivorous birds, allowing for comparisons between bird feeding preferences and bird and fruit traits. Regardless of elevation, red and purple fruits were universally preferred to green and attacked at similar rates to one another, despite strong elevational patterns in real fruit color. However, elevation had a significant effect on fruit size preferences. A weak, non‐significant preference for large fruits was recorded at 700 m, while medium fruits were strongly preferred at 1700 m and small fruits at 2700 m. These patterns mirror those of both real fruit size and frugivorous bird gape width along the gradient, suggesting the potential for selective pressure of birds on fruit size at different elevations. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2023-02-14 /pmc/articles/PMC9929344/ /pubmed/36818525 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9835 Text en © 2023 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Hazell, Richard J.
Sam, Katerina
Sreekar, Rachakonda
Yama, Samson
Koagouw, Wulan
Stewart, Alan J. A.
Peck, Mika R.
Bird preferences for fruit size, but not color, vary in accordance with fruit traits along a tropical elevational gradient
title Bird preferences for fruit size, but not color, vary in accordance with fruit traits along a tropical elevational gradient
title_full Bird preferences for fruit size, but not color, vary in accordance with fruit traits along a tropical elevational gradient
title_fullStr Bird preferences for fruit size, but not color, vary in accordance with fruit traits along a tropical elevational gradient
title_full_unstemmed Bird preferences for fruit size, but not color, vary in accordance with fruit traits along a tropical elevational gradient
title_short Bird preferences for fruit size, but not color, vary in accordance with fruit traits along a tropical elevational gradient
title_sort bird preferences for fruit size, but not color, vary in accordance with fruit traits along a tropical elevational gradient
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9929344/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36818525
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9835
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