Herbivorous dietary selection shown by hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes) within mixed woodland habitats
Knowledge of diet and dietary selectivity is vital, especially for the conservation of declining species. Accurately obtaining this information, however, is difficult, especially if the study species feeds on a wide range of food items within heterogeneous and inaccessible environments, such as the...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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The Royal Society
2023-05-01
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| Series: | Royal Society Open Science |
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| Online Access: | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.230156 |
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| author | Ewan H. Stenhouse Paul Bellamy Will Kirby Ian P. Vaughan William O. C. Symondson Pablo Orozco-terWengel |
| author_facet | Ewan H. Stenhouse Paul Bellamy Will Kirby Ian P. Vaughan William O. C. Symondson Pablo Orozco-terWengel |
| author_sort | Ewan H. Stenhouse |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Knowledge of diet and dietary selectivity is vital, especially for the conservation of declining species. Accurately obtaining this information, however, is difficult, especially if the study species feeds on a wide range of food items within heterogeneous and inaccessible environments, such as the tree canopy. Hawfinches (Coccothraustes coccothraustes), like many woodland birds, are declining for reasons that are unclear. We investigated the possible role that dietary selection may have in these declines in the UK. Here, we used a combination of high-throughput sequencing of 261 hawfinch faecal samples assessed against tree occurrence data from quadrats sampled in three hawfinch population strongholds in the UK to test for evidence of selective foraging. This revealed that hawfinches show selective feeding and consume certain tree genera disproportionally to availability. Positive selection was shown for beech (Fagus), cherry (Prunus), hornbeam (Carpinus), maples (Acer) and oak (Quercus), while Hawfinch avoided ash (Fraxinus), birch (Betula), chestnut (Castanea), fir (Abies), hazel (Corylus), rowan (Sorbus) and lime (Tilia). This approach provided detailed information on hawfinch dietary choice and may be used to predict the effects of changing food resources on other declining passerines populations in the future. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T13:28:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ef1bd0ebc6bb49e6b306dc55279dfa43 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2054-5703 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T13:28:02Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | The Royal Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Royal Society Open Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-ef1bd0ebc6bb49e6b306dc55279dfa432023-05-10T07:25:31ZengThe Royal SocietyRoyal Society Open Science2054-57032023-05-0110510.1098/rsos.230156Herbivorous dietary selection shown by hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes) within mixed woodland habitatsEwan H. Stenhouse0Paul Bellamy1Will Kirby2Ian P. Vaughan3William O. C. Symondson4Pablo Orozco-terWengel5School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, Wales, UKRSPB Centre for Conservation Science, The Lodge, Sandy SG19 2DL, UKRSPB Centre for Conservation Science, The Lodge, Sandy SG19 2DL, UKSchool of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, Wales, UKSchool of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, Wales, UKSchool of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, Wales, UKKnowledge of diet and dietary selectivity is vital, especially for the conservation of declining species. Accurately obtaining this information, however, is difficult, especially if the study species feeds on a wide range of food items within heterogeneous and inaccessible environments, such as the tree canopy. Hawfinches (Coccothraustes coccothraustes), like many woodland birds, are declining for reasons that are unclear. We investigated the possible role that dietary selection may have in these declines in the UK. Here, we used a combination of high-throughput sequencing of 261 hawfinch faecal samples assessed against tree occurrence data from quadrats sampled in three hawfinch population strongholds in the UK to test for evidence of selective foraging. This revealed that hawfinches show selective feeding and consume certain tree genera disproportionally to availability. Positive selection was shown for beech (Fagus), cherry (Prunus), hornbeam (Carpinus), maples (Acer) and oak (Quercus), while Hawfinch avoided ash (Fraxinus), birch (Betula), chestnut (Castanea), fir (Abies), hazel (Corylus), rowan (Sorbus) and lime (Tilia). This approach provided detailed information on hawfinch dietary choice and may be used to predict the effects of changing food resources on other declining passerines populations in the future.https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.230156dietary selectivityhawfinchmetabarcodingspecies management |
| spellingShingle | Ewan H. Stenhouse Paul Bellamy Will Kirby Ian P. Vaughan William O. C. Symondson Pablo Orozco-terWengel Herbivorous dietary selection shown by hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes) within mixed woodland habitats Royal Society Open Science dietary selectivity hawfinch metabarcoding species management |
| title | Herbivorous dietary selection shown by hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes) within mixed woodland habitats |
| title_full | Herbivorous dietary selection shown by hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes) within mixed woodland habitats |
| title_fullStr | Herbivorous dietary selection shown by hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes) within mixed woodland habitats |
| title_full_unstemmed | Herbivorous dietary selection shown by hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes) within mixed woodland habitats |
| title_short | Herbivorous dietary selection shown by hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes) within mixed woodland habitats |
| title_sort | herbivorous dietary selection shown by hawfinch coccothraustes coccothraustes within mixed woodland habitats |
| topic | dietary selectivity hawfinch metabarcoding species management |
| url | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.230156 |
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