Effects of fruit novelty on feeding preference in four globally invasive frugivorous birds

Invasive fruit-eating animals (hereafter frugivores) can form novel mutualisms with fruiting plants and alter seed dispersal. Plant-frugivore interactions are often linked to frugivore preference for certain fruit traits, but for invasive frugivores, it is uncertain if novelty—whether or not a fruit is familiar—impacts foraging decisions. We experimentally tested fruit preferences of the four most abundant and frugivorous bird species on O‘ahu, a Hawaiian Island, all of which are globally invasive songbirds. With captive wild birds, we tested for preference in relation to fruit size, color, nutrients, and bird sex. We also tested how novelty of fruits affected trait-based preferences, with fruits from plant species either established in the wild or novel. Using arrays that offered multiple fruit species, we conducted 252 trials with 111 plant species, 59.5% of which were considered novel. From all fruits tested, three bird species preferred smaller fruits, and color preferences varie..., , # Effects of fruit novelty on feeding preference in four globally invasive frugivorous birds

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.zs7h44jn3](10.5061/dryad.zs7h44jn3)

### Files and variables

#### File: Biol.Inv_Case.etal_2024_Dryad.csv

##### Variables

* TRIAL ID: Experimental trial
* BIRD SPP: Bird species (four-letter code based on common name). See Table 3 of manuscript for full bird species names
* BIRD ID: Bird individual
* BIRD SEX: Bird sex (F=Female, M=Male)
* DATE: Trial date
* PLANT SPP: Plant species written as six-letter codes (first three letters of genus and first three letters of species, UNK and XXX=unknown) for plant species used in experiments. See Table 5 in manuscript for full plant species names
* EXPOSURE: Exposure (the number of trials in which an individual bird had been offered fruit from a given plant species (e.g., exposure of 1 is the first time a fruit was offered to a bird species, while an exposure of 6 is the sixth time a fruit was offered to a bird species)
* ...,