Available Alpine Resources for the Insectivorous Golden-
crowned Kinglet Shelley Nagata -Winter Ecology, 2010 Mountain
Research Station, University of Colorado, Boulder EBIO 4100, Sec
570
Slide 2
Overview Research & background topics about the
Golden-crowned Kinglet Investigate how Kinglet is able to survive
through the cold weather Procedure and Methods that were executed
in order to answer this question Results Drawing conclusions
Slide 3
Research Kinglets summer diet Little information on winter diet
Difficulties faced among winter Bernd Heinrich and Ross Bell
Slide 4
Key Features of the Golden-crowned Kinglet (Regulus satrapa)
Identification Tips Important behavioral aspects
http://www.usgs.gov
Slide 5
What are the Kinglets eating?? Discover the possible resources
available in alpine ecosystems. Determine how well the resources
are represented in the sampled area
Slide 6
Methods Field Tools - Beat sheet - Sledge hammer -Aspirator
Communities 1 & 2 -10,100 ft -9,600 ft Community constants -20
Trees at each site -Spruce Forests Collect count data Bernd
Heinrich and Ross Bell
Slide 7
Classifying - body shape -wings - legs
Slide 8
Slide 9
Segmented appendages
Slide 10
Results continued Diversity Index s Shannon-Wiener Index (H) =
- (p i )(lnp i ) i=1 p i proportion of individuals of species (i)
in community Chi-squared test X 2 = (Observed-Expected) 2 /
Expected
Slide 11
Community Diversities Community 1: 10,100 ft H= 0.21 More
distributed environment Less Stable Community 2: 9,600 ft H = 0.24
Greater abundance compare the multiple dependent variables
collected under different environments
Slide 12
Chi-squared Interpretation Level 0.01 indicated a significant
difference between the proportions of insects found in community 1
and community 2. Distribution of observations differs among the two
communities Communities structured differently in regards to the
different orders found in the communities
Slide 13
Drawing Conclusions Freeze Avoidance -Cannot tolerate formation
of ice in body tissues Free Tolerance -Tolerate formation of ice
within tissues -Evolving Orders Winter foraging results in
abundance Evolving affects on foraging specialization
Slide 14
References Bell, R. & Heinrich, B. 2010. Winter Food of
Small Insectivorous Bird, the Golden-Crowned Kinglet. Wilson
Ornithological Society. The Wilson Bulletin 107(3): 558-561.
http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/Infocenter/ i7480id.html
http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/Infocenter/