Parrot claylick distribution in South America: do patterns of "where" help answer the question "why"?

Geophagy is well known among some Neotropical parrots. The clay apparently adsorbs dietary toxins and/or provides supplemental nutrients. We used location data and 23 environmental layers to develop a predictive model of claylick distribution using Maxent software. We related species characteristics...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecography (Copenhagen) 2010-06, Vol.33 (3), p.503-513
Main Authors: Lee, Alan T. K., Kumar, Sunil, Brightsmith, Donald J., Marsden, Stuart J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Birds
Clay
Clay soils
Forest soils
Forestry
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects
General forest ecology
Generalities. Production, biomass. Quality of wood and forest products. General forest ecology
Geology
Land cover
Parrots
Riparian soils
Sodium
Toxins
Tropical rain forests
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Summary:Geophagy is well known among some Neotropical parrots. The clay apparently adsorbs dietary toxins and/or provides supplemental nutrients. We used location data and 23 environmental layers to develop a predictive model of claylick distribution using Maxent software. We related species characteristics to claylick use and examined how parrot assemblages using claylicks changed with distance from the centre of claylick distribution. Fifty-two parrot claylicks were reported from an area of ca 4 million km² but over 50% were restricted to a 35 000 km² region of southeast Peru and northern Bolivia. Claylicks were strongly associated with moist forest on younger (
ISSN:0906-7590
1600-0587
DOI:10.1111/j.1600-0587.2009.05878.x