Scales of food availability for an endangered insectivore, the Hawaii Akepa

Author:

Fretz, J. Scott

Title:

Scales of food availability for an endangered insectivore, the Hawaii Akepa

Periodical:

Auk

Year:

2002

Volume:

119

Pages:

166-174

Subject:

Hawaii Akepa Loxops coccineus Endangered species birds Birds food

Summary:

The Hawaii Akepa (Loxops coccineus coccineus) is an insectivorous Hawaiian honeycreeper (Drepanidinae) that is endangered. Occurring in the ohia-lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha) and koa (Acacia koa) forest, this bird species has dramatically declined in the last 100 years. As a result, it is now rare or absent from many areas that appear to support suitable habitat. While food availability may play a role in the distribution patterns of these birds, differences in food between sites may arise from different sources. In this document, prey availability is compared between a site that supports a large, stable Hawaii Akepa population, (that is located with the core area of Mauna Kea on the island of Hawaii), and a site that is within 10 km away from which the Hawaii Akepa have declined for unknown reasons since the early 1900s. This is despite the availability of forest that appears to be qualitatively similar in structure and composition to the core area. As a result, a multiscale approach was used to determine the availability of food and to explore the relationship between food availability and the anomalous distribution pattern that is seen in the Hawaii Akepa.

Label:

Birds - Akepa

URL:

http://cletus.uhh.hawaii.edu:2074/10.1642/0004-8038(2002)119%5B0166:SOFAFA%5D2.0.CO;2

Date:

2002

Collection:

Periodicals