What is it about?
The three-wattled bellbird (Procnias tricarunculatus) feeds on specific fruits and must alternate among food resources as they ripen and are distributed throughout the landscape. Many of the fruit species that bellbirds feed upon do not fruit every year and there is a high level of synchronous fruiting among individuals of the same species. Certain species are key fruit resources in key years and some years present scarcity in all species. The conservation implications include the need for conservation and restoration of forests that contain a diversity of food resources that are distributed thoughout the landscape.
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Why is it important?
This article stresses the importance of species diversity in conservation efforts. Replacing just the key food resources for the bellbird will not insure its long term survival.
Perspectives
The three-wattled bellbird has provided an interesting case of the complexity of conservation through its resource tracking, both in space through different life zones of Costa Rica as it follows the fruiting of different tree species, and its need for flexibility since it can not rely on just a few fruit species due to the variability in fruiting (annual, biennial, triennial).
Debra Hamilton
Monteverde Institute
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Resource tracking and its conservation implications for an obligate frugivore (Procnias tricarunculatus
, the three-wattled bellbird), Biotropica, October 2017, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/btp.12502.
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