A hierarchical classification of trophic guilds for North American birds and mammals

• Published in: Revista mexicana de biodiversidad 2014-09, Vol.85 (3), p.931-941
• Main Authors: González-Salazar, Constantino, Martínez-Meyer, Enrique, López-Santiago, Guadalupe
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: activity period; alimento; Biodiversity Conservation; community ecology; ecological guilds; ecología de comunidades; food item; foraging substrate; gremios ecológicos; período de actividad; sustrato de forrajeo; vertebrados; vertebrates
• ISSN: 1870-3453; 2007-8706; 2007-8706
• DOI: 10.7550/rmb.38023

The identification and analysis of ecological guilds have been fundamental to understand the processes that determine the structure and organization of communities. However, reviewing studies that have tried to categorize species into trophic guilds we found many different criteria on which such categorizations are based; consequently, a single species may have several guild designations, limiting its accuracy and applicability. In this paper we propose a classification scheme for trophic guilds as a first step to establish a common terminology. For this purpose we considered 1502 species of mainland birds and mammals from North America (Mexico, USA, and Canada). This classification takes into account 3 main criteria to identify each guild: main food type, foraging substrate and activity period. To determine the trophic guilds and assign species to them, we performed a cluster analysis to classify species according to their similarities in feeding patterns. The resulting hierarchical classification distinguishes 6 main levels of organization, which may occur in different combinations among taxonomic groups and sites: 1) taxon (e. g., birds or mammal), 2) diet (e. g. granivore, insectivore), 3) foraging habitat (e. g., terrestrial, arboreal), 4) substrate used for foraging (e. g., ground, foliage), 5) foraging behavior (e. g., gleaner, hunter), and 6) activity period (e. g., nocturnal, diurnal). We identified 22 guilds for birds and 27 for mammals. This approach aims to group together species that use similar resources in a similar way, and extend the usefulness of this approach to studies intend to analyze the organization of biotic communities. La identificación y el análisis de gremios ecológicos han sido fundamentales para entender los procesos que determinan la estructura y organización de las comunidades. Sin embargo, revisando los estudios que han clasificado las especies en gremios, encontramos que tales clasificaciones están basadas en diferentes criterios; como consecuencia, una especie puede tener varias designaciones gremiales, limitando su precisión y aplicabilidad. En este trabajo proponemos un esquema de clasificación en gremios tróficos como primer paso para establecer una terminología común. Para ello, se consideraron 1 502 especies de aves y mamíferos distribuidos en América del Norte (México, EUA y Canadá). Esta clasificación tiene en cuenta 3 criterios: la dieta principal, el sustrato de forrajeo y el período de actividad. Para determina