Native Plant Conservation Campaign News: Migrating birds prefer native fruits, even when invasives more abundant

December 9, 2019

 

A new study of birds migrating through New England is adding to the body of evidence showing the importance of native plants to the health and sustainability of bird populations.

 

The study, published November 15 in the journal Biological Conservation, fond that given the choice, birds traveling through New England in autumn almost always consume native fruits like blueberries and raspberries over invasives like Asian bittersweet and multiflora rose — even when the invasives were more abundant. In fact, researchers were surprised by the strength of the preference for native fruits.

 

 

Researchers suspect one reason for this behavior may be that invasive fruits are less nutritious than natives.

 

The New England findings are not unexpected. Research has repeatedly demonstrated that locally adapted native plants are essential to the health and stability of birds and other wildlife. For example, a 2018 study, coauthored by NPCC Advisor Doug Tallamy examined gardens and yards in the Washington DC area and measured reproduction of Carolina Chickadees. They reported that only yards composed of more than 70 percent native plants were able to support enough chickadees to sustain a stable population. Read about it in NPCC News.

 

These findings have important implications. As climate change alters the timing of migrations, birds may encounter more non native plants that have different fruiting periods than natives. The study shows that even when native fruit is relatively scarce, birds make the effort to seek it out. The results offer more evidence that conservation and restoration of native plant communities is important to the resilience of bird populations, particularly in the face of climate change.

 

Read the study

Read an interview with the researchers