Chouteau Philippe
Laboratoire d'Ecologie, Ecole Normale Supérieure, 46, rue d'Ulm, 75230 Paris cedex 05, France.
C R Biol. 2006 Sep;329(9):691-701. doi: 10.1016/j.crvi.2006.06.005. Epub 2006 Aug 7.
I studied the foraging ecology of Coquerel's Coua (Coua coquereli) and Giant Coua (Coua gigas), which occur in the dry forest in west Madagascar. This kind of forest is characterised by an alternating of a dry and a rainy season. The foraging behaviour was described in several dimensions: i.e. height and proportion of perching, rate of capture (estimating the food availability), foraging techniques, substrates used, type and size of the captured prey. Their foraging behaviour was different according to the season and to the proximity of water. Habitat structure was important to take in consideration to study their foraging behaviour. They tended to use the same pattern of techniques and substrates, but differed by the proportions they used these variables and also by the possibility to climb into the dense understorey vegetation. Seasonal variation has probably an important effect on the prey availability and the nature of prey captured. The diet of both species is also discussed. I suggest that change in habitat structure and resources levels could be important to take in consideration for the conservation of these forest birds.
我研究了生活在马达加斯加西部干燥森林中的科氏马岛鹃（Coua coquereli）和巨马岛鹃（Coua gigas）的觅食生态。这类森林的特点是旱季和雨季交替出现。觅食行为从几个方面进行了描述：即栖息高度和比例、捕获率（估计食物可利用性）、觅食技巧、所利用的基质、捕获猎物的类型和大小。它们的觅食行为因季节和与水源的距离而异。在研究它们的觅食行为时，栖息地结构是需要考虑的重要因素。它们倾向于采用相同的技巧和基质模式，但在使用这些变量的比例以及进入茂密下层植被的可能性方面存在差异。季节变化可能对猎物的可利用性和捕获猎物的性质有重要影响。文中还讨论了这两个物种的饮食。我认为，栖息地结构和资源水平的变化对于保护这些森林鸟类可能具有重要意义，需要加以考虑。
