Horrocks, M., Salter, J., Braggins, J., Nichol, S., Moorhouse, R., and Elliott, G. 2008. Plant microfossil analysis of coprolites of the critically endangered kakapo (Strigops habroptilus) parrot from New Zealand. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 149:229–245.
This paper was the subject of a recent ecology journal club at Lincoln University. In it, Horrocks et al. (2008) reconstruct the diet of New Zealand's flightless kakapo using coprolites (preserved faeces). Since New Zealand's bird fauna was decimated so recently, there are still faeces to be found in places where their makers are gone. Kakapo were once common throughout New Zealand, but have now been reduced to less than 100 individuals being intensively managed on offshore island reserves. This paper uses traditional methods of identifying plant microfossils (particularly the morphology of pollen and spores) to characterise what kakapo used to eat throughout their mainland New Zealand range. Not surprisingly, the kakapo diet was broader and more varied than what is now available in their offshore island sanctuaries. There are some good tips for what other foods these island birds could be offered.
What is difficult to obtain from this study is what foods were actively sought after by the kakapo rather than which were fed on proportional to their availability in these habitats. Comparing the plant composition of the kakapo faeces with the background levels of pollen and spores at or near these sites (with some undoubtedly tricky adjustments estimating relative plant abundance from pollen and spore counts) could be an interesting follow-on from this study.
The paper can be accessed from ScienceDirect (subscription required).
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