FSD 2010 - Manakins

5th International Symposium-Workshop on Frugivores and Seed Dispersal (1985-2010)

Manakins

This page is dedicated to the memory of

Barbara K. Snow (1921-2007) and David W. Snow (1924-2009)

Ecology and diet

Manakins (Pipridae) are the predominant arboreal frugivores in the understorey of neotropical forests. They feed in the understory on small fruit (but often remarkably large for the size of the bird) including berries, as well as on insects. In Costa Rica, for instance, a total of 81 species of plants has been recorded in the diets of Pipra mentalis and Corapipo altera in humid old-growth forests. In drier habitat such as the gallery forests in the cerrado (savanna) region of central Brazil, the diet of the Helmeted Manakin (Antilophia galeata) remains highly frugivorous, manakins eating fruits of 17 species of 12 families of plants, completing with arthropods such as Araneae, Orthoptera, Coleoptera, Diptera, and Hymenoptera.

Frugivory and microhabitats

Fruit removal is influenced by features of microhabitats such as local topography, local neighbourhood, fruit richness among patches. In Northeastern Costa Rica, manakins has been captured in young and old second-growth woodlands in the lowlands and in old growth forest at approximately 50, 500, and 1,000 m. Manakin species differed in their use of habitats, with old-growth forest species showing large and predictable seasonal variation in capture rates. Overall, the main families of fruit consumed by Manakins are Annonaceae, Boraginaceae, Dilleniaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Salicaceae, Melastomataceae, Moraceae, Phytolaccaceae, Rubiaceae, Solanaceae, Ulmaceae and Urticaceae. Mean size of seeds ingested by manakins weighing 8-18 g in average is 1.9 x 2.6 mm (up to 4 x 5 mm, N = 15; Forget et al. 2007).

Seed dispersal

Melastome plants are key sources of fruit for manakins, and examination of data from several Neotropical areas confirms the importance of these birds as the avian frugivores most closely associated with the melastomes. For instance, two species of manakins accounted for a majority of all Miconia fruit found in regurgitation or faecal samples taken from 103 species of birds netted in the forest understorey in Central Panama. In lowland tropical wet forest of Ecuador, six species of manakins (Pipridae) disperse most of seeds of two species of understorey Melastome plants (Miconia fosteri and M. serrulata, Melastomataceae). Overall, seed dispersal appears to be influenced by complex interaction among plant traits, spatial patterns of plant distribution, temporal patterns of fruiting among habitats, and disperser behavior.

Sources

Blake, JG. & Loiselle, BA., 1992. Fruits in the diets of Neotropical migrants birds in Costa Rica. Biotropica, 24:200-210.

Blendinger PG, Loiselle BA, Blake JG 2008. Crop size, plant aggregation, and microhabitat type affect fruit removal by birds from individual melastome plants in the Upper Amazon. Oecologica 158: 273-283.

Breitwis, R. & Pliske, M. 1974. Anthurium fruit as a food of white-bearded manakins. Ibis 116: 365-365.

Erard C. & Théry, M. 2001. Vegetarian species in the bird community with emphasis on frugivory and seed dispersal. Pp. 233-241 in Dynamics and Plant-Animal Interactions in a Neotropical Rainforest, Bongers F., Charles-Dominique P., Forget P.-M. & Théry M. (eds.). Kluwer Academic Publisher, Dordrecht, Netherlands.

Krijger, C.L., Opdam M., Théry, M. & Bongers, F. 1997. Courtship behaviour of manakins affects seed bank in the tropical rain forest of French Guiana. Journal of Tropical Ecology, 13: 631-636.

Loiselle, B. A., J. G. Blake, P. G. Blendinger, and T. B. Ryder. 2007. Ecological redundancy in seed dispersal systems: a comparison between manakins (Pipridae) in two tropical forests. Pp. 178-196 in A. J. Dennis, E. W. Schupp, R. Green, and D. W. Westcott, editors, Seed Dispersal: Theory and its Applications in a Changing World. CABI Publishing, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, UK. FSD2005

Marini, M.A. 1992. Foraging behaviour and diet of the helmeted manakin. Condor 94: 151-158.

Melo, C. & Oliveira, PE. 2009. Frugivory in Lacistema hasslerianum Chodat (Lacistemaceae), a gallery forest understory treelet in Central Brazil. Brazilian Journal of Biology 69: pdf

Prum, Richard O. & Snow, David W. (2003) Manakins in Perrins, Christopher The Firefly Encyclopedia of Birds Firefly Books. pp. 434–437.

Poulin B, Wright SJ, Lefebvre G, et al. 1999. Interspecific synchrony and asynchrony in the fruiting phenologies of congeneric bird-dispersed plants in Panama. Journal of Tropical Ecology 15: 213-227.

Snow, D. W., and B. K. Snow. 1986. Some aspects of avian frugivory in a north temperate area relevant to tropical forest. Frugivores and seed dispersal. Edited by Estrada, A. & Fleming, T.H., Dr W. Junk Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands. Pp. 159-164. FSD1985

Snow, B.K. & Snow, D.W. (1988) Birds and berries: a study of an ecological interaction Poyser, London.

Stiles, F.G., Rosselli, L. 1993. Consumption of fruits of the Melastomataceae by birds – How diffuse is coevolution. Vegetation 107/108: 57-73. FSD 1991