Dissertation Research: Dead-Leaf Foraging Specialization by Tropical Forest Birds
{'Code': '08010208', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'BIO', 'LongName': 'Direct For Biological Sciences'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'DEB', 'LongName': 'Division Of Environmental Biology'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'Althea Ball', 'PO_EMAI': 'aball@nsf.gov', 'PO_PHON': '7032920000'}
This research will document an extreme foraging                            specialization that is unique to diverse tropical bird                          communities, and then test specific hypotheses concerning the                   maintenance of this specialization. A dozen bird species at each                of two Amazonian rainforest sites were found to forage primarily                by extracting arthropods from curled dead leaves suspended in the               forest understory.  Because the dead leaves represent discrete                  resource patches, this research can quantify leaf availability                  and use, as well as the abundance of available prey.  A                         preliminary empirical study suggests the following predictions to               be tested in a series of outdoor cage experiments on wild-caught                birds and arthropods: 1) dead leaf specialists have fixed                       preferences for dead leaf vs. other substrates, but are flexible                with respect to particular types; 2) specialists are more                       efficient than co-occurring generalists at capturing prey hiding                in dead leaves; 3) dead-leaf arthropods have fixed preferences                  for hiding in these leaves; and 4) these arthropods exhibit                     stereotyped behavioral responses to bird predation that in turn                 influence the bird's foraging efficiency.  This study differs                   from most other insectivorous bird studies in two important ways;               first, food availability and diets are measured directly rather                 than inferred from feeding behavior or morphology, and second,                  the amenability of this resource system to experimental                         manipulation provides a rare opportunity to evaluate the role of                the various processes that may promote specialization.
{'FirstName': 'James', 'LastName': 'Remsen', 'PI_MID_INIT': 'V', 'PI_SUFX_NAME': 'Jr.', 'PI_FULL_NAME': 'James V Remsen', 'EmailAddress': 'najames@lsu.edu', 'NSF_ID': '000417116', 'StartDate': '07/01/1988', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Principal Investigator'}
{'Name': 'Louisiana State University', 'CityName': 'BATON ROUGE', 'ZipCode': '708030001', 'PhoneNumber': '2255782760', 'StreetAddress': '202 HIMES HALL', 'StreetAddress2': None, 'CountryName': 'United States', 'StateName': 'Louisiana', 'StateCode': 'LA', 'CONGRESSDISTRICT': '06', 'CONGRESS_DISTRICT_ORG': 'LA06', 'ORG_UEI_NUM': 'ECQEYCHRNKJ4', 'ORG_LGL_BUS_NAME': 'LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY', 'ORG_PRNT_UEI_NUM': None}
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{'Code': '1128', 'Text': 'Population & Community Ecology'}
{'url': 'https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/download?DownloadFileName=1988&All=true', 'xml': '8800905.xml'}