Granivorous animals may prefer to predate or cache seed of certain plant species over others.
Alissa J. Brown, Douglas H. Deutschman, Jessica Braswell, Dana McLaughlin 2016, 'Remote Cameras Reveal Experimental Artifact in a Study of Seed Predation in a Semi-AridShrubland', PLOS ONE10.1371/journal.pone.0165024. Retrieved from PLOS CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
Experimental sites were equipped with phototraps to record the identity of the visiting granivorous vertebrates.
Barragán F, Badano EI, Douterlungne D, Flores J 2018, 'Richness and abundance of granivorous vertebrates determine acorn removal patternsin a human modified oak forest', iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestryhttps://iforest.sisef.org/contents/?id=ifor2216-011. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
The dominant trophic guilds are omnivorous (11) and granivorous (10).
Pablo Gutiérrez-Tapia, M. Ignacio Azócar, Sergio A. Castro 2018, 'A citizen-based platform reveals the distribution of functional groups inside a largecity from the Southern Hemisphere: e-Bird and the urban birds of Santiago (CentralChile)', Revista Chilena de Historia Naturalhttp://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40693-018-0073-x. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
The best represented gremials were: insectivorous (235 species), frugivorous (88), and granivorous (85).
Raúl Ortiz-Pulido, Jessica Bravo-Cadena, Vanessa Martínez-García, Doroteo Reyes, Ma.Eugenia Mendiola-González, Guillermo Sánchez, Maximino Sánchez 2010, 'Avifauna de la Reserva de la Biosfera Barranca de Metztitlán, Hidalgo, México Birdsof the Biosphere Reserve Barranca de Metztitlán, Hidalgo, Mexico', Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidadhttp://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1870-34532010000200012. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
We documented all seed removal visits by granivorous animals, which we identified to the genus level.
Alissa J Brown, Douglas H Deutschman, Jessica Braswell, Dana McLaughlin 2016, 'Remote Cameras Reveal Experimental Artifact in a Study of Seed Predation in a Semi-AridShrubland.', PLoS ONEhttp://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5072592?pdf=render. Retrieved from PLOS CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
However, we found that granivorous and omnivorous species had higher levels of disaccharidase activities and insectivores had the lowest.
Natalia Ramírez-Otárola, Pablo Sabat 2011, 'Are levels of digestive enzyme activity related to the natural diet in passerine birds?',Biological Researchhttp://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0716-97602011000100011&lng=en&tlng=en. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
This analysis allowed me to group the species in seven trophic categories: herbivorous, insectivorous, omnivorous, granivorous-frugivorous, herbivorous/granivorous-frugivorous,herbivorous/insectivorous.
SERGIO I. SILVA 2005, 'Posiciones tróficas de pequeños mamíferos en Chile: una revisión Trophic positionof small mammals in Chile: a review', Revista Chilena de Historia Naturalhttp://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0716-078X2005000300013. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)