The Assemblage of Birds Foraging in Native West Indian Pine (Pinus occidentalis) Forests of the Dominican Republic during the Nonbreeding Season¹

Abstract

We studied avian resource use in a native West Indian pine (Pinus occidentalis) forest in the Cordillera Central of the Dominican Republic during the nonbreeding season. The forest is characterized by a fairly open pine canopy and a dense mixed‐broadleaf and pine understory. We used a principal components analysis of 23 foraging characters for 23 bird species, including foraging height, the proportional use of 5 different foraging methods, 3 horizontal positions and foliage densities, and 11 foraging substrates. Five principal components accounted for 74 percent of the total variance of the assemblage variables and resulted in the delineation of at least 5 foraging guilds. 78 percent of bird species had mean foraging heights of 5.0–10.0 m, corresponding to the region of overlap of pine and broadleaf vegetation. As a result, the diversity of foraging substrates and maneuvers used by birds, rather than foraging height, appears to be the primary means by which birds that exploit this habitat separate ecologically. Migrant wood warblers (Parulinae) are probably able to integrate into the community because of little diet overlap between residents and migrants, and the fairly specialized nature of their largely insectivorous foraging habits. Avian foraging in this habitat may reflect the effects of frequent disturbance such as hurricanes.

Carry‐over effects of winter habitat quality on en route timing and condition of a migratory passerine during spring migration

“…Therefore, vertical structuring of males and females in winter habitats would result in a pattern consistent with the observed differences in δ 13 C values between the sexes. However, black‐and‐white warblers winter across a wide range of habitats (Kricher ) and are also found in mixed species flocks where vertically structuring between the sexes has not been observed (Latta and Wunderle ), indicating that more research is needed to determine how prevalent intersexual vertical structuring is across black‐and‐white warblers wintering range. Alternatively, female black‐and‐white warblers may winter in higher‐quality winter habitat than males, but because of latitudinal sexual segregation females arrive after males during spring migration (Ketterson and Nolan ).…”

Avian research in the Caribbean: past contributions and current priorities

“…Biotic interactions, such as host–pathogen, competitive bird–bird, and mutualistic bird–plant interactions, have not been well studied in Caribbean ecosystems. Although some work has been conducted on brood parasitism (Cruz and Wiley 1989), patterns of distribution of unique strains of avian malaria among hosts (Ricklefs et al 2004, Ricklefs and Bermingham 2008), and relationships between overwintering migrants and permanent residents (Latta and Wunderle 1998, Johnson et al 2005), few investigators have studied how biotic interactions affect population dynamics and the distribution of species. Failure to incorporate biotic interactions into ecological studies is currently viewed as a major reason why many models fail to fully describe bird populations and their distribution (Kissling et al 2012).…”

No evidence for the small‐island effect in avian communities on islands of an inundated lake

“…conifer forest, broadleaf forest and shrubs (Supplementary material Appendix A2). These three habitat types can provide birds with a lot of resources including foods, roosts, shelters, and nest sites (Vale et al 1982, Latta and Wunderle 1998, Schwab et al 2006). Thus, it seems that all our study islands have exceeded the ‘threshold’ area for the occurrence of key habitat types for birds in our system.…”