We were interested in investigating if avian populations can rapidly respond to anthropogenic impacts via changes in their feeding ecology. We focused on Aotearoa New Zealand birds and studied this by measuring bills and assessing diets through stable isotope analyses of museum specimens.
Main results:
We described the historical distribution of New Zealand wattlebirds and stitchbirds and also compiled a catalogue of the available material of these species in museum collections (Salvador et al. 2019).
Huia are extinct birds with extraordinary differences in bill shape between males and females. Using stable isotopes, we showed that the two sexes had overlapping diets, more similar to one another than what it would be expected but still with meaningful differences indicating different foraging strategies (Tomotani et al. 2022).
The Chatham Island Duck is an extinct species from New Zealand. Using stable isotope analysis and study of anatomical features, we showed that this unusual duck had a more fully marine diet than previously hypothesized, mainly composed of invertebrates (Salvador et al. 2021).
Featured in:
This project ran between 2018 and 2019 funded by a NWO Rubicon grant. Further funding was obtained from Birds New Zealand.
BiRBS Lab 