Diet of understorey birds in two Atlantic Forest areas of southeast Brazil

Abstract

The feeding habits of understorey birds of two fragments of Atlantic Forest in southeast Brazil were studied, based on faecal content. The 434 samples examined contained 2535 items, principally consisting of invertebrates and fruit, of which 2286 (90.2%) could be identified in detail. Although there was no significant difference between the areas with respect to the occurrence of these two food categories in the diet, there were differences in the relative proportions of some of the invertebrate and plant taxa represented. Some birds that had been considered generalists appeared to have dietary specializations, indicating that existing knowledge of the trophic ecology of neotropical birds is inadequate. To eliminate this critical knowledge gap, it is recommended that studies be undertaken at community level together with examination of faecal samples, the latter being a low-cost, non-invasive, non-lethal technique.

Keywords:

• Atlantic forest
• bird diet
• Brazil
• feeding ecology
• understorey birds

Acknowledgements

We thank Ricardo Montianele de Castro for identification of plant species from Fazenda Continente, Luiz Menini Neto and Gustavo Riani for help in mounting Figure 1, Luiz M. Neto for drawing Figure 2, Ana Luísa de Carvalho Lima and Ricardo Oliveira Garcia for field assistance in Ibitipoca and Sr José Maurício Aguiar for permission to work in Fazenda Continente. The National Research Centre for the Conservation of Wild Birds (CEMAVE/IBAMA) provided the bands and the State Forest Institute of Minas Gerais (IEF) gave permission to carry out the study in the Ibitipoca State Park. We also thank the postgraduate programme in Ecology and Natural Resources of the Universidade Federal de São Carlos (PPGERN/UFSCar) for providing financial support.