Abstract
Knowledge of feeding ecology of declining species, such as farmland birds, is essential to address their conservation requirements, especially when their habitats are suffering important reductions of trophic resources. In this study, we apply a metabarcoding approach to describe the diet composition of six of the most significant farmland birds inhabiting European cereal pseudo-steppes: little bustard, great bustard, pin-tailed sandgrouse, black-bellied sandgrouse, red-legged partridge, and common quail. We further studied seasonal diet variations (autumn to spring) in all species but the common quail, whose diet was studied during spring and summer. We show that study species´ diets mostly consisted of plants, although in the case of little bustard and great bustard arthropods are also highly relevant. Among arthropods, we found high proportions of thrips, arachnids, and springtails, which were previously unreported in their diet, and some taxa that could be used as antiparasitic food. Moreover, we report that little bustard’s diet is the least rich of that of all studied species, and that diet of all these species is less diverse in winter than in autumn and spring. Diet composition of these declining species supports the importance of natural and semi-natural vegetation and landscape mosaics that can provide a wide variety of arthropods, plants, and seeds all year-round.
Highlights
Knowledge of feeding ecology of declining species, such as farmland birds, is essential to address their conservation requirements, especially when their habitats are suffering important reductions of trophic resources
This has been very relevant in the Iberian Peninsula, which is a European hotspot for steppe birds owing to its biogeography (Mediterranean region), arid environment and agriculture landscape 8,9,11,12
We found clear differences in diet composition between studied species based on the results of the Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) analysis (Fig. 1 NMDS axis 1) and PERMANOVA test (F5,39 = 2.64, P < 0.001; Fig. 1)
Summary
Agricultural intensification has led to a reduction of fallow lands (agricultural plots that are not cultivated during one or more growing seasons), which are important habitats for farmland b irds[8,9,10] This has been very relevant in the Iberian Peninsula, which is a European hotspot for steppe birds owing to its biogeography (Mediterranean region), arid environment and agriculture landscape (characterized by traditional rain-fed winter cereal‐based cultivation, crop rotations, low intensification, and relatively high proportion of fallows) 8,9,11,12. This study aims to describe the diet of some of the most significant steppe bird and farmland game bird species of the European cereal pseudo-steppes through DNA-metabarcoding of speciesfecal samples All these farmland birds inhabit increasingly intensified agricultural landscapes and are currently declining[8,27] so there is an urgent need to improve knowledge about their diet to correctly understand their trophic requirements and conservation needs. We provide the most up-to-date comprehensive understanding of their food requirements in a rapidly changing environment
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