Abstract

LEIRANA ALCOCER, Jorge L.; HERNANDEZ BETANCOURT, Silvia  and  GUERRERO GONZALEZ, Leonardo. Factors affecting the average weight of the Common Ground-Dove (Columbina passerina) at the Dzilam Reserve, Yucatán, Mexico. Huitzil [online]. 2012, vol.13, n.1, pp.47-53. ISSN 1870-7459.

We evaluated the effect of season and forest succession stage on body mass in Columbina passerina in tropical dry forest in Yucatan state, Mexico. We collected, between December 2004 and December 2005, in patches of secondary forest at different succession stages: (1) >10 years abandonment, (2) ≥5 years and ≤10 years, (3) <5 years, and (4) cattle grasslands. We set ten ornithological nets for 12 hours/month/site, producing a cumulative collection effort of 1440 net-hours per site. We caught 96 individuals of which 56 were weighed (average weight = 39 g). We observed no differences between sexes so all individuals were pooled for a factorial ANOVA to analyze the influence of season (dry vs. rainy) and succession stage on body mass. Season affected weight, but succession stage did not. Most (96%) individuals were collected at sites in the earliest succession stages, perhaps due to a high abundance of plant species with small seeds in the early succession stages. Weight was highest during the rainy season, when almost all the plants in this seasonal ecosystem produce seeds. Columbina passerina weights in more productive ecoregions in Central America range from 30 to 35 g, suggesting that ecosystems with higher productivity do not necessarily offer more resources for this species.

Keywords : Columbidae; secondary forest; body mass; seasonal variation; tropical dry forest.