DOI: 10.5061/dryad.ncjsxksvk
title: Observational foraging behaviour of avian pollinators in restored and remnant Banksia woodlands

description: Pollinators, and the pollination services they provide, are critical for
 seed set and self-sustainability of most flowering plants. Despite this,
 pollinators are rarely assessed in restored plant communities, where their
 services are largely assumed to re-establish. This data set contains the
 bird-pollinator richness, foraging and bird interaction
 behaviour between natural and restored Banksia woodland sites in
 Western Australia. These parameters were measured for natural
 communities of varying size and degree of fragmentation, and restored
 plant communities of high and low complexity for three years, in the
 summer and winter flowering of Banksia attenuata and B. menziesii,
 respectively. Data collected was used to assess the
 re-establishment of avian pollinators in restored sites.
description: Floral visitor surveys were conducted, observing two spatially
 distant (&gt; 20m) flowering trees with ≥ 5 inflorescences  and their
 surrounding neighbours were monitored for floral visitors within a site,
 one by the same observer and the other by one volunteer. A list of
 bird species observed during the floral visitor surveys was collated to
 document differences in the general bird community (i.e. beyond
 nectarivores). <em>Banksia attenuata</em> trees were monitored
 in three summers (once in 2010/2011 and twice in each of 2011/2012 and
 2012/2013) and <em>B. menziesii</em> trees were monitored over
 three winters (once 2011 and twice in each of 2012 and 2013), during days
 without rain or high wind. A total of 96 survey days were conducted in
 a consecutive sequence of 5-day blocks during peak <em>Banksia
 </em>flowering for each <em>Banksia </em>species. On
 each survey day, visits to inflorescences by bird species were observed
 for eight, 10-minute census periods each hour, starting within 30 minutes
 of sunrise. Observers recorded the species and foraging
 behaviour for each floral visit to a maternal tree as follows:
 1) Visitation – foraging bouts were counted as the continuous tracking of
 a single floral visitor until lost from sight or survey time elapsed,
 2) Intra-tree – the next inflorescence visited was located on the same
 tree, 3) Near neighbour – the next inflorescence visited was on an
 adjacent tree of <em>B. attenuata</em> or <em>B.
 menziesii </em>(&lt; 3m), 4) Distant – the next inflorescence
 was not on a neighbour tree (&lt; 10m), 5) To
 non-<em>Banksia</em> – after the foraging bout the visitor
 visited another plant species, 6) Out of the site – after the initial
 foraging bout, the visitor moved out of the observation survey area
 (&gt; 10m), 7) Probed inflorescence (yes/no), 8) Number of
 inflorescences visited and the time spent foraging – for each tree during
 a foraging bout, and 9) Foraging interaction – during each foraging bout,
 any intra- or inter-specific species displacement as recorded by species
 type and frequency. Pollinator Movement Index (PMI) was also calculated.
 Site landscape characteristics were also included within this dataset,
 isolation, total edge, edge contrast, site type, density edge, and
 percentage of urban, floristic and structure.