Pine as fast food: foraging ecology of an endangered cockatoo in a forestry landscape

Pine plantations near Perth, Western Australia have provided an important food source for endangered Carnaby's Cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus latirostris) since the 1940s. Plans to harvest these plantations without re-planting will remove this food source by 2031 or earlier. To assess the impact of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2013-04, Vol.8 (4), p.e61145-e61145
Main Authors: Stock, William D, Finn, Hugh, Parker, Jackson, Dods, Ken
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agriculture
Analysis of Variance
Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena - physiology
Animals
Biology
Birds
Breeding
Cacatua
Cones
Convenience foods
Ecological association
Ecological monitoring
Ecology
Endangered & extinct species
Endangered Species
Energy Metabolism - physiology
Fast food
Feeding Behavior - physiology
Food
Food Analysis - methods
Food plants
Food sources
Forage
Forages
Foraging behavior
Forestry
Habitats
Motor Activity - physiology
Nutrient content
Observation
Offspring
Phenological data
Pine
Pinus
Pinus - cytology
Pinus pinaster
Planning
Plant breeding
Plantations
Psittaciformes - physiology
Restoration strategies
Seeds
Seeds - chemistry
Trees
Western Australia
Wildlife conservation
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Summary:Pine plantations near Perth, Western Australia have provided an important food source for endangered Carnaby's Cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus latirostris) since the 1940s. Plans to harvest these plantations without re-planting will remove this food source by 2031 or earlier. To assess the impact of pine removal, we studied the ecological association between Carnaby's Cockatoos and pine using behavioural, nutritional, and phenological data. Pine plantations provided high densities of seed (158,025 seeds ha(-1)) over a large area (c. 15,000 ha). Carnaby's Cockatoos fed throughout these plantations and removed almost the entire annual crop of pine cones. Peak cockatoo abundance coincided with pine seed maturation. Pine seed had energy and protein contents equivalent to native food sources and, critically, is available in summer when breeding pairs have young offspring to feed. This strong and enduring ecological association clearly suggests that removing pine will have a significant impact on this endangered species unless restoration strategies, to establish alternative food sources, are implemented.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0061145