Supplementing a grain diet with insects instead of fruits sustains the body condition of an omnivorous bird
Creators: name: Simon, Ojodomo
name: Manu, Shiiwua
name: Nwaogu, Chima
name: Omotoriogun, Taiwo
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: body condition
environmental seasonality
diet preference
diet limitation
environmental change
nutrient limitation
omnivory.

description: Omnivores utilize dietary sources that differ in nutrients, hence dietary limitations due to environmental change or habitat alteration could cause nutrient limitations, and thus deterioration of body condition if omnivory is obligate. We investigated how the body condition of the omnivorous Village Weaver Ploceus cucullatus, which forages predominantly on grains, responds to the supplementation of its grain diet with insects instead of fruits. Forty wild‐caught weavers held in aviaries were fed a combination of grains and fruits, or grains and insects ad libitum for 8 weeks. We determined diet preference by recording the number of birds on each diet option per minute for 1 h and the amount of food left over after 3 hours of foraging. Fortnightly, we assessed indices of body condition including body mass, pectoral muscle, and fat scores, packed cell volume (PCV), and hemoglobin concentration (HBC). We modeled the number of foragers, food left over, and body condition indices as functions of diet while accounting for time (weeks) and sex effects. Grains were the preferred diet, but males ate more fruits and insects than females. Weavers fed on grains and fruits lost body and pectoral muscle mass and accumulated less fat than those fed on grains and insects. This effect was sex‐dependent: females supplemented with fruits lost more pectoral muscle mass than males of the same group and males but not females, supplemented with insects accumulated more fat reserve than those supplemented with fruits. PCV and HBC did not differ between diets but increased over the 8 weeks. Village Weavers are likely obligate rather than facultative omnivores, with insects being a more nutritive supplement than fruits. Nutrient limitations arising from environmental change or habitat alteration could impair body condition and affect physiological function to environmental seasonality in obligate omnivores like the weavers.
description: Funding provided by: A G Leventis FoundationROR ID: https://ror.org/01qkhz224Award Number: 
Funding provided by: Carnegie Corporation of New YorkROR ID: https://ror.org/02gp85x20Award Number: 
Funding provided by: International Foundation for ScienceROR ID: https://ror.org/03pwwck46Award Number: B-5724-2
description: This dataset contains observations and measurements made via experimental feeding of the Village Weaver (Ploceus cucullatus) with grains + fruits and grains + insects in an outdoor aviary (with 4 rooms) in the A. P. Leventis Ornithological Research Institute, Jos, Nigeria. The measurements and observation are a product of experimental investigation of diet preference of the Village Weavers (determined via the amount of food left after feeding by the birds (Giving-up density, GUD) and the number of birds foraging on each diet types per given time), and how deprivation of supplementary dietary items (fruits and insects) affect the body condition (body mass, pectoral muscle score, fat score, packed cell volume, and haemoglobin concentration) of Village Weavers. The data has been processed using Microsoft excel and analysed in R statistical software.