Content area
Full Text
ABSTRACT-Motion-activated cameras captured images of 2 Keel-billed Toucans (Ramphastos sulfuratus) on and near the ground in two 900 m2 experimental forest restoration plots located in the Los Tuxtlas Biosphere Reserve, Veracruz, Mexico, during July 2015. Toucans have been known to forage widely for fruit in fragmented landscapes. Our cameras indicated that they additionally foraged on and near the ground for insects or other animal prey in relatively predator-free forest patches. As key agents of dispersal of large-seeded old-growth trees, toucans and other large frugivores were likely responsible for recruitment of animal-dispersed tree species of mature forest in our experimental plantings, even in stands of wind-dispersed trees or controls where animal-dispersed tree species were not planted. Received 1 March 2017. Accepted 24 January 2018.
Key words: avian behavior, foraging, forest restoration, Los Tuxtlas, Neotropical birds.
RESUMEN (Spanish)-Tomamos imágenes de dos tucanes (Ramphastos sulfuratus) con camaras activadas por movimiento en el suelo y cerca de este en dos parcelas experimentales de 900 m2 en la Reserva de la Biosfera Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, Mexico, durante julio 2015. Se sabe que los tucanes buscan frutos ampliamente en paisajes fragmentados. Nuestras camaras indican que en parches de bosque relativamente libres de depredadores, también buscaban insectos u otras presas en y cerca del suelo. Como agentes clave de la dispersión de semillas grandes en bosques de edad avanzada, los tucanes y otros frugívoros grandes probablemente son responsables del reclutamiento de especies arboreas dispersadas por animales propias de bosques maduros en nuestras plantaciones experimentales, incluso en grupos de arboles dispersados por viento o controles en los que no se plantaron especies dispersadas por animales.
Palabras clave: aves neotropicales, comportamiento aviar, Forrajeo, Los Tuxtlas, restauracion de selvas.
Toucans are among the largest and most frugivorous forest birds in the Neotropics (Van Tyne 1929, Skutch 1971), and they play critical ecological roles as agents of seed dispersal and successful reproduction of tropical rainforest trees (Howe 1981, Howe et al. 1985). The conservation value of Keel-billed Toucans (Ramphastos sulfuratus) may be underestimated in severely fragmented landscapes from Mesoamerica to northern South America. Keel-billed Toucans are known to be effective seed-dispersers that frequently fly long distances (up to 8 km; Kays et al. 2011) and frequently divide time within and between mature forest interiors and...