Insectivorous birds consume an estimated 400-500 million tons of prey annually.

ABSTRACT: In this paper, we present an estimate of the predation impact of the global population of insectivorous birds based on 103 (for the most part) published studies of prey consumption (kg ha^-1 season^-1) of insectivorous birds in seven biome types. By extrapolation-taking into account the global land cover of the various biomes-an estimate of the annual prey consumption of the world's insectivorous birds was obtained. We estimate the prey biomass consumed by the world's insectivorous birds to be somewhere between 400 and 500 million metric tons year^-1, but most likely at the lower end of this range (corresponding to an energy consumption of ≈ 2.7 × 10¹⁸ J year^-1 or ≈ 0.15% of the global terrestrial net primary production). Birds in forests

SUBMITTER: Nyffeler M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6061143 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature