![]() ![]() Our results highlight the range of ecological interactions that can be lost with species' extinction and the inherent challenge of understanding the consequences of those interactions.įor tens of thousands of years prior to their extinction in the early twentieth century, passenger pigeons ( Ectopistes migratorius) were the most abundant bird species in North America, moving nomadically, consuming mast, and fruit crops throughout eastern forests in megaflocks containing tens of millions to billions of individuals ( Greenberg, 2014 Murray et al., 2017). In addition, we conclude that the digestive process invariably destroyed consumed seeds but the potential for a nutrition/dispersal mutualism might still have existed via regurgitation and post-mortem release of crop contents. Our findings suggest that the passenger pigeon's dietary range, observed historically to be taxonomically broad, was constrained to certain seed sizes due to bill gape size. Using the band-tailed pigeon ( Patagioenas fasciata) and the rock dove ( Columba livia) as physical and ecological proxies, we evaluated passenger pigeon dietary range and potential to disperse seeds. Here, we strive to better understand what was probably one of the most significant of these interactions-that between passenger pigeons and seed bearing trees. The extinction of passenger pigeons in the early twentieth century undoubtedly influenced associated species and ecosystems as interactions stemming from the pigeons disappeared suddenly. 3VCA San Francisco Veterinary Specialists, San Francisco, CA, United Statesįor tens of thousands of years, passenger pigeons ( Ectopistes migratorius) were a dominant member of eastern North American forest communities, with megaflocks comprising up to several billion individuals.2Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, United States.1Revive & Restore, Sausalito, CA, United States. ![]()
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