A hierarchical classification of trophic guilds for North American birds and mammals

Abstract

The identification and analysis of ecological guilds have been fundamental to understand the processes that determine the structure and organization of communities. However, reviewing studies that have tried to categorize species into trophic guilds we found many different criteria on which such categorizations are based; consequently, a single species may have several guild designations, limiting its accuracy and applicability. In this paper we propose a classification scheme for trophic guilds as a first step to establish a common terminology. For this purpose we considered 1502 species of mainland birds and mammals from North America (Mexico, USA, and Canada). This classification takes into account 3 main criteria to identify each guild: main food type, foraging substrate and activity period. To determine the trophic guilds and assign species to them, we performed a cluster analysis to classify species according to their similarities in feeding patterns. The resulting hierarchical classification distinguishes 6 main levels of organization, which may occur in different combinations among taxonomic groups and sites: 1) taxon (e. g., birds or mammal), 2) diet (e. g. granivore, insectivore), 3) foraging habitat (e. g., terrestrial, arboreal), 4) substrate used for foraging (e. g., ground, foliage), 5) foraging behavior (e. g., gleaner, hunter), and 6) activity period (e. g., nocturnal, diurnal). We identified 22 guilds for birds and 27 for mammals. This approach aims to group together species that use similar resources in a similar way, and extend the usefulness of this approach to studies intend to analyze the organization of biotic communities.