Abundance, diet and food availability of Citreoline Trogon (Trogon citreolus) in a regenerating tropical dry forest in the Central Pacific, Mexico

Abstract

Trogonidae make up a family of birds with a mixed diet composed of fruit and animal matter. However, there is little research examining the foraging ecology of Trogon citreolus in regenerating tropical forest. We studied T. citreolus abundance and diet from November 2020 to April 2022 in a regenerating dry tropical forest of Central Pacific Mexico. Also, we investigate the relationship between food availability and trogon abundance. The relative trogon abundance was 2.6 ± 2.3 individuals per point count, which varied temporally. The species consumed the fruits of 14 plant species from 10 families. The three most consumed species were Ficus cotinifolia, Comocladia engleriana, and Randia gentlei. Trogon citreolus displayed a moderate niche breadth (Best = 0. 420) whit low food diet diversity (H’ = 0.94), and the dominance of a particular type of food (λ = 0.85). Our results demonstrated a positive correlation between trogon abundance and food resource availability. The dietary breadth of T. citreolus enable the species to adapt to fluctuations in fruit availability in regenerating forests. These findings highlight the ecological importance of forest regeneration in providing food resources for T. citreolus and other frugivorous birds.