Biology of the greyheaded parrot Poicephalus fuscicollis suahelicus Reichnow.

Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2001.This study was conducted to investigate the biology of the Greyheaded Parrot Poicephalus fuscicollis suahelicus in the wild. Field work was conducted in north-east South Africa in the southern limit of the range of the Greyheaded Parrot during two field seasons. Observations from August to December 1999 in the Levubu region, south of the Soutpansberg mountain range, included months of the non-breeding season when Greyheaded Parrots occur seasonally in the area. Observations in the Luvhuvhu-Mutale river confluence area from March to August 2000 included months of the breeding season. No field work was conducted from January to March 2000 due to exceptionally high rains in the southern African sub-region, that prevented access to sites. The Greyheaded Parrot has a widespread distribution, through southern, south Central and East Africa, that has possible changed little in recent years. However, local populations are likely to have suffered extinctions due to habitat destruction and capture for the illegal trade. Populations in protected areas (Makuya Park and Kruger National Park) are less vulnerable to capture than unprotected areas. The conservation of the Greyheaded Parrot outside of protected areas is highlighted. In various parts of the range of the Greyheaded Parrot seasonal movements occur in response to food and nest site availability. Nest sites are possibly limiting in certain parts of its range due to habitat destruction. During post-breeding flocking, the occurrence of larger flocks, possibly family units (mean ± S.E = 4.7 ± 0.2), is common, when birds wander in search for seasonally available food sources. During this period density of Greyheaded Parrots is 0.28 birds/100 ha. Monogamous pairs are more conspicuous during the breeding season (mean ± S.E = 2.1 ± 0.1) and density estimates are 0.14 birds/100 ha. Egg laying is synchronous between pairs with the timed appearance and flocking of juvenile flocks in spring (August/September). Breeding during the dry season reduces competition with other large cavity nesting bird species. Observations suggest that a skewed sex ratio exists in the population (males:females = 2:1). Daily movements are characterised by a bimodal activity pattern. Early morning movements involve flights to activity centres where the accumulation of numerous smaller flocks occur. Here preening, allo-preening and socializing occur with drinking and/or feeding occurring if food and/or water are available. Thereafter, birds move to regular feeding sites, to feed. Activity is decreased during the heat of the day with birds sleeping, resting and/or preening in the canopies of trees. Late afternoon activities involve increased levels of activity and late afternoon return flights to roosts. Greyheaded Parrots are specialist feeders, accessing the kernel of predominantly unripe fruit. This feeding strategy reduces competition with other frugivore competitors. During any one time few tree species are fed on by the Greyheaded Parrot. Greyheaded Parrots were also observed feeding on bark in the breeding season. Two, almost fully fledged, chicks were found dead in a nest and the causes of death undetermined. Their crops contained numerous pieces of masticated bark and insect parts. Behaviours and vocalizations of the Greyheaded Parrot were similar to that recorded in the Cape Parrot. Recognition of the Greyheaded Parrot as a separate species based on species specific calls and DNA warrants further investigation

Avian nectarivory and pollination in Aloe marlothii Berger : interactions between bird communities and a winter-flowering succulent

Aloe marlothii is a winter-flowering succulent that is widespread in the savanna biome of northern and north-eastern South Africa. Plants grow up to 8 m in height and are commonly found on rocky north-facing slopes. Nectar production occurs through a 24 h period with flowers producing copious amounts (c. 250 µl) of dilute nectar (c. 12%). This abundant nectar supply, that is available for a 5-10 week period during June-August, is utilised by numerous opportunistic avian nectarivores. At a study site in Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve, 60 km south-east of Johannesburg, at least 59% (38 species) of birds recorded during census transects fed on nectar; throughout the range of A. marlothii at least 85 species feed on nectar. This diversity surely far exceeds the number of species ever recorded feeding on nectar of a single plant. During the flowering period an influx of birds at the aloe forest occurred, with an overall increase in abundance and diversity. Pollinator exclusion experiments supported the hypothesis that A. marlothii is pollinated by generalist birds; specialist nectarivores are possibly excluded as inefficient pollinators by the nectar of low concentration and high volume. Fruit set was higher in plants that had avian visitors and very low when pollinators were absent. Stable carbon isotope analysis of whole blood was used to quantify the importance of nectar sugars for opportunistic nectarivores. During flowering there was an enrichment in the δ13C isotopic signature of whole blood of nectar-feeding birds towards that of nectar (δ13C = -12.6‰). This shift was most prominent in frugivores, insectivores and omnivores that typically fed on a diet depleted in 13C when nectar was not available. The C4 grass seed diet of granivores was similar to the isotopic signature ofA. marlothii nectar, so we were unable to determine to what degree granivores benefitted from nectar. Stable nitrogen isotopes in whole blood may suggest that many nectar-feeding birds shift their trophic position during flowering. However, we interpret these results with caution because of insufficient knowledge on diet-tissue fractionation factors of wild birds and/or temporal changes in vegetation isotopic values. Stable carbon isotope analysis of breath samples was used to show that A. marlothii nectar is a readily available income energy source for nectar-feeding birds. Because A. marlothii nectar is so dilute we expected it to be an important water source for many opportunistic nectar-feeding bird species. There was no correlation between the enrichment of δ13C of breath CO2 (representing metabolised nectar sugars) and the δ18O in breath CO2 (representing a highly evaporated water source in nectar); for most birds the δ18O in breath CO2 was more similar to that of free-standing water sources. However, because our knowledge on the relationship between δ18O of ingested water and body water, and fractionation processes when CO2 is exhaled is limited, we were unable to quantify water obtained from nectar. The sugars of A. marlothii nectar are probably more important, as a food source for opportunistic nectarivores during dry winter months when insect abundance is low, than the water in nectar, because birds are able to source water from other drinking sites.Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010.Zoology and Entomologyunrestricte

Notes on African Crowned Eagle Stephanoaetus coronatus diet in savanna and forest in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Our study reports on contrasts in prey items from African Crowned Eagle Stephanoaetus coronatus nesting in forest (n 1) and savanna (n 2) biomes in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. At least 12 taxa were identified at a forest nest, of which 92.1% were neonate/juvenile. Bovids and procaviids represented 73.7% and 19.6% of the diet, respectively, whilst Samango monkey Cercopithecus albogularis, a common forest species, represented only 1.7% of prey items. Other species made up 5.0% and included a range of species not found in the forest (e.g. Ourebia ourebi, Lepus sp. and Ovis capra). At the savanna nests at least four taxa were identified, of which 73.1% of prey items were adult. The majority of prey items were identified as procaviids (87.0%) with 5.6% and 7.4% of prey items represented by C. albogularis/C. pygerythrus and other remains (e.g. Capra hircus and Philantomba monticola), respectively. In South Africa, where total forest area is reduced compared to regions further north, the dietary range of African Crowned Eagles may include a wider diversity of prey from different biomes; feeding generalisation and opportunism may therefore be an important strategy for the maintenance of African Crowned Eagles populations in the region.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tost202015-01-31hb201

Nutritional significance of a winter-flowering succulent for opportunistic avian nectarivores

The winter-flowering succulent Aloe marlothii provides nectar for many opportunistic avian nectarivores in southern African savannas. We assessed the importance of A. marlothii nectar sugar for opportunistic nectarivores by analysing temporal changes in stable carbon isotope ratios (d13C) in the tissues of birds in Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve, South Africa. The blood of the 11 most common non-granivorous opportunistic nectarivores at our site was enriched in 13C by 3.4 ± 1.5& during the flowering period of A. marlothii, reflecting the enriched crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) isotopic signature of nectar ()12.6 ± 0.5&). This relatively small contribution of A. marlothii nectar to assimilated carbon in whole blood contrasted with that of exhaled CO2 in African Red-eyed Bulbuls Pycnonotus nigricans and Cape White-eyes Zosterops capensis. In both these species, the d13C of breath samples was significantly enriched compared with blood and feathers, and closely resembled that of the nectar, revealing combustion of ingested nectar rather than assimilation. Although our analysis was complicated by the presence of C4 grasses, whose d13C values are similar to those of CAM photosynthesizers, when considered with previously published feeding observations our data reveal that opportunistic nectarivores feeding on A. marlothii nectar obtain a relatively small fraction of their assimilated carbon, but most of their metabolized carbon, from this seasonally available carbohydrate food resource. Because the d13C values of insects associated with C3 plants also became enriched during the flowering season, some insect-eating opportunistic nectarivores may have assimilated A. marlothii carbon indirectly from insects. This study highlights the importance of understanding isotopic routing when assessing the nutritional significance of specific dietary items to consumer communities.The National Research Foundation of South Africahttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1474-919X/ab201

Epizoochory in Parrots as an Overlooked Yet Widespread Plant–Animal Mutualism

Plant–animal interactions are key to sustaining whole communities and ecosystem function. However, their complexity may limit our understanding of the underlying mechanisms and the species involved. The ecological effects of epizoochory remain little known compared to other seed dispersal mechanisms given the few vectors identified. In addition, epizoochory is mostly considered non-mutualistic since dispersers do not obtain nutritional rewards. Here, we show a widespread but unknown mutualistic interaction between parrots and plants through epizoochory. Combining our observations with photos from web-sources, we recorded nearly 2000 epizoochory events in 48 countries across five continents, involving 116 parrot species and nearly 100 plant species from 35 families, including both native and non-native species. The viscid pulp of fleshy fruits and anemochorous structures facilitate the adherence of tiny seeds (mean 3.7 × 2.56 mm) on the surface of parrots while feeding, allowing the dispersion of these seeds over long distances (mean = 118.5 m). This parrot–plant mutualism could be important in ecosystem functioning across a wide diversity of environments, also facilitating the spread of exotic plants. Future studies should include parrots for a better understanding of plant dispersal processes and for developing effective conservation actions against habitat loss and biological invasions.This research was funded by Severo Ochoa Program (SVP-2014-068732), Action COST “ParrotNet” (ES1304), and Loro Parque Fundación (PP-146-2018-1). E.S.-G. is funded by a Ramón y Cajal contract (RYC-2019-027216I) from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation

Assessing the cost of global biodiversity and conservation knowledge

Knowledge products comprise assessments of authoritative information supported by stan-dards, governance, quality control, data, tools, and capacity building mechanisms. Considerable resources are dedicated to developing and maintaining knowledge productsfor biodiversity conservation, and they are widely used to inform policy and advise decisionmakers and practitioners. However, the financial cost of delivering this information is largelyundocumented. We evaluated the costs and funding sources for developing and maintain-ing four global biodiversity and conservation knowledge products: The IUCN Red List ofThreatened Species, the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems, Protected Planet, and the WorldDatabase of Key Biodiversity Areas. These are secondary data sets, built on primary datacollected by extensive networks of expert contributors worldwide. We estimate that US$160million (range: US$116–204 million), plus 293 person-years of volunteer time (range: 278–308 person-years) valued at US$14 million (range US$12–16 million), were invested inthese four knowledge products between 1979 and 2013. More than half of this financingwas provided through philanthropy, and nearly three-quarters was spent on personnelcosts. The estimated annual cost of maintaining data and platforms for three of these knowl-edge products (excluding the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems for which annual costs were notpossible to estimate for 2013) is US$6.5 million in total (range: US$6.2–6.7 million). We esti-mated that an additional US$114 million will be needed to reach pre-defined baselines ofdata coverage for all the four knowledge products, and that once achieved, annual mainte-nance costs will be approximately US$12 million. These costs are much lower than those tomaintain many other, similarly important, global knowledge products. Ensuring that biodi-versity and conservation knowledge products are sufficiently up to date, comprehensiveand accurate is fundamental to inform decision-making for biodiversity conservation andsustainable development. Thus, the development and implementation of plans for sustain-able long-term financing for them is critical

Bird richness and composition along an agricultural gradient in New Guinea : the influence of land use, habitat heterogeneity and proximity to intact forest

We examined variation in bird species richness, abundance and guild composition along an agricultural gradient in New Guinea, and looked for any additive influence of habitat heterogeneity on these variables. The study was based on a grid of survey plots, six plots wide and 24 plots long with the long axis running from a settlement 2.4 km through active and abandoned agricultural plots towards a large area of forest. Each circular survey plot (25 m radius) was assigned to a broad habitat type, ten habitat measures taken, and birds counted for 1 h in each plot. Principal component analysis (PCA) habitat axis 1 described an axis of decreasing forest alteration (larger trees, greater tree densities, fuller canopy) that was positively correlated with distance from the settlement. Bird richness and abundance were highest at intermediate disturbance levels (plots with mid-range axis 1 scores). Proportions of insectivores and frugivores increased with decreasing forest alteration, while proportions of nectarivores decreased. We calculated three measures of habitat heterogeneity by comparing each plot's PCA score to those of eight neighbouring plots (50–110 m away). These measures reflected how different the plot was to its neighbours, how variable the habitat was around the plot, and the degree to which the plot bordered less disturbed forest. We related these measures to plot bird variable scores independently, and to residuals following regressions of bird scores against PCA scores. Heterogeneity measures had no significant influence on abundance or richness measures, but there were greater proportions of frugivores in plots showing a given degree of habitat alteration if they bordered more pristine habitat. While we readily identified differences in bird communities along the agricultural gradient, the influences of habitat heterogeneity were not striking for birds at this fine scale

Appearances can be deceiving : pollination in two sympatric winter-flowering Aloe species

Aloe marlothii and A. greatheadii var. davyana are two sympatric winter-flowering succulents that occur in the summer rainfall regions of northern and north-eastern South Africa. Both have flower characteristics that are strongly suggestive of bird pollination, although their nectar differs in volume and concentration. We conducted pollinator exclusion experiments to determine the importance of birds and insects as pollinators of these Aloe species. For both species fruit set and the number of seeds per fruit were higher in control treatments (all pollinators) and lower in treatments that excluded all pollinators. The contribution of insect pollinators to fruit set in A. marlothii was low (3–4%), like that of no pollinators (0–2%) whilst that of all pollinators (14–19%) was significantly higher, suggesting that generalist avian pollinators, which visited flowers in large numbers, are the most important pollinators. In A. greatheadii var. davyana fruit set in the absence of pollinators was also very low (2–6%), while the contribution to fruit set by insects (36–51%) was similar to that of all pollinators (55–55%), confirming the importance of honeybees to pollination. Clear understanding of both flower and nectar characteristics, and observations of flower visitors, are therefore required before an accurate prediction of pollinator type can be made

Response of avian nectarivores to the flowering of Aloe marlothii : a nectar oasis during dry South African winters

In southern Africa, Aloe marlothii flowers during the dry winter season and offers copious dilute nectar to a variety of birds. Avian abundance and community composition were monitored at an A. marlothii forest at Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve, South Africa. Sampling occurred during two summer months (February–March) when no flowers were present, and six months (May–October) that spanned the winter flowering. We hypothesized that an influx of occasional nectarivores to the A. marlothii forest during flowering would lead to significant changes in the avian community. Overall bird abundance increased 2–3 fold at the peak of nectar availability (August). We recorded 38 bird species, of 83 species detected during transects, feeding on A. marlothii nectar; this diverse assemblage of birds belonged to 19 families, including Lybiidae, Coliidae, Pycnonotidae, Sylviidae, Cisticolidae, Muscicapidae, Sturnidae, Ploceidae and Fringillidae. Surprisingly, only two species of sunbird (Nectariniidae) were observed feeding on A. marlothii nectar, and both occurred in low abundance. We predicted that competition for nectar resources would be high, but few aggressive inter- and intra-specific interactions occurred between birds while feeding on inflorescences. During peak flowering, insect feeders (insectivores, omnivores, nectarivores) fed on nectar during the cold morning when insect activity was low, whilst non-insect feeders (frugivores and granivores) fed on nectar in the middle of the day. Our study highlights the importance of A. marlothii nectar as a seasonal food and water source for a diverse assemblage of occasional nectarivores

Diet and prey selectivity of the specialist myrmecophage, Temminck's ground pangolin

The diet of Temminck’s ground pangolin Smutsia temminckii (hereafter, pangolin) has thus far been studied only in mesic savannahs. We provide arid-zone dietary data for this species based on direct observations, and compare these to available prey species assemblages. We also report stable carbon and nitrogen isotope enrichment values for liver and scales compared to the diet. Pangolins were recorded consuming four ant (Anoplolepis steingroeveri, Camponotus fulvopilosus, two Crematogaster spp.) and one termite (Trinervitermes trinervoides) species, which represent 7.5 and 25 % of the available ant and termite species, respectively.2 The stable isotope data corroborate the direct observations and confirm that pangolins display a high degree of prey selectivity, however stable isotopes alone were not able to infer the diet of pangolins as a number of non-prey species had similar isotopic values to prey species. Direct observations suggest that these latter species are not preyed on, possibly because they have chemical or mechanical defences or gallery structures that make them unsuitable as prey. Liver was enriched by 3.8 ± 1.2 ‰ (mean ± SD) and 2.5 ± 1.4 ‰ for δ15N and δ13C, respectively, relative to the mean δ15N and δ13C values of the prey species, and scales were enriched by 2.9 ± 1.0 ‰ and 5.3 ± 1.8 ‰, respectively. We observed no seasonal variation or age or sex-related differences in diet, either from direct observations or isotope data. These results support previous findings that pangolins have further specialised within an already unusual mammalian dietary niche.Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund (project 0925713), the National Research Foundation (grant 71454), the Tshwane University of Technology and the University of Pretoria.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1469-79982017-03-31hb2016Mammal Research InstituteZoology and Entomolog