title: Food preferences of winter bird communities in different forest types.
abstract: Food availability for forest birds is a function of habitat type, forest management regime, and season. In winter, it is also impacted by variations in the weather. In the current study we assessed the food preferences of wild bird populations in two types of forest (spruce and beech) during the months of November 2010 to April 2011 in the Schwäbische Alb Biodiversity Exploratory, south-western Germany. Our aim was to investigate whether local bird communities preferred fat-rich, carbohydrate-rich or wild fruits and to determine how forest structure, seasonality and local weather conditions affected food preferences. We found higher bird activity in beech forests for the eleven resident species. We observed a clear preference for fat-rich food for all birds in both forest types. Snow cover affected activity at food stations but did not affect food preferences. Periods of extreme low temperatures increased activity.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Experimental Ecology, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany. swen.renner@uni-ulm.de
authors.forename: Swen C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Renner
authors.forename: Sofia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Baur
authors.forename: Astrid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Possler
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Winkler
authors.forename: Elisabeth K V
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Kalko
authors.forename: Paul J J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Bates
authors.forename: Marco A R
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Mello
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D001717:Birds / Q000502:physiology*; D017753:Ecosystem; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000502:physiology*; D005858:Germany; D012621:Seasons; D012914:Snow; D013696:Temperature; D014197:Trees