Tree Trunk Arthropod Faunas as Food Resources for Birds
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Date
1989-03
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Abstract
The composition, abundance, and relationship to trunk-surface characteristics of the tree-trunk surface arthropod fauna were studied from August, 1984 to January, 1985 in a beech-maple forest in southwestern Ohio. Samples of trunk-surface arthropods were taken monthly from American beech and sugar maple trees. Although resource levels on the two tree species did not differ significantly, arthropod resource levels were dynamic, changing monthly in magnitude and composition. Live arthropods became progressively less abundant as winter approached; non-living/dormant items did not. Results suggest that trunk surface characteristics offer foraging birds few reliable clues about arthropod resource levels.
Description
Author Institution: Department of Zoology, Miami University
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Citation
The Ohio Journal of Science. v89, n1 (March, 1989), 23-25