Tamaris Turizo, Diana P.

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    Variación estacional en la disponibilidad de presas de la viuda, Himantopus mexicanus, en las Salinas de Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico
    (2008) Tamaris Turizo, Diana P.; Santos Flores, Carlos J.; College of Arts and Sciences - Sciences; Acosta Martínez, Jaime; Tossas Cavalliery, Adrianne G.; Department of Biology; Alston, Dallas E.
    The purpose of this study was to determinate the availability of potential preys for the Black‐necked Stilt, Himantopus mexicanus (Aves, Charadriformes, Recurvirostridae), and to document details of its foraging ecology in two hypersaline lagoons (salt ponds) at Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico. Between July 2007 and March 2008, we established three sampling stations, two in the Fraternidad Lagoon and one in the Candelaria Lagoon. Monthly, we took invertebrate samples from the water and sediment and made observations on foraging and ecology of the birds, and attempted to capture them to practice a stomach wash. The potential preys of this system are represented by dipterans of the genera Ephydra and Dashyelea, hemipterans of the genus Trichocorixa, the brine shrimp Artemia franciscana (Anostraca), and coleopterans of the genus Berosus (Hydrophilidae). In both stations of Fraternidad Lagoon, the brine shrimp were the most abundant prey, and there were no statistically significant differences in the density of the invertebrates during the study. In the Candelaria Lagoon, the larvae of Ephydra spp. were in major proportion and there were significant differences in the density of the invertebrates during the study (P<0.05; KW= 0.99; n=48). Also, it was the station with the highest diversity (H’=1.09). The capture of a Stilt showed the ingestion of brine shrimp, adults of Trichocorixa spp., and larvae, pupae and adults of Ephydra spp., being the pupae the most abundant item in the sample. Foraging observations showed that the Stilts ate their food during the day and night; the main strategy for capture was visual, but they also employed sweeping tactics and submerging their head inside the water. The densities of potential preys were variable, following the rain fall patterns. The observations also showed that the salt ponds of Cabo Rojo offer the Black‐Necked Stilt population the preys that form part of their diet, but these birds tends to visit with more frequency other saline wetlands nearby.