SAviTraits 1.0: Seasonally varying dietary attributes for birds

Motivation: Trait-based studies remain limited by the quality and scope of the underlying trait data available. Most of the existing trait databases treat species traits as fixed across time, with any potential temporal variation in the measured traits being unavailable. This is despite the fact that many species are well known to show plasticity in their trait characteristics over the course of the year. This data paper describes a compilation of species-specific dietary preferences and their known intra-annual variation for over 10,000 of the world's extant bird species (SAviTraits 1.0). Information on dietary preferences was obtained from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Birds of the World (BOW) online database. Textual descriptions of species' dietary preferences were translated into semi-quantitative information denoting the proportion of dietary categories utilized by each species. Temporal variation in dietary attributes was captured at a monthly temporal resolution. We describe the methods for data discovery and translation and present tools for summarizing the annual variability of avian dietary preferences. Altogether, we were able to document a seasonal variability in dietary attributes for a total of 1031 species (ca. 10%). For the remaining species, the dietary attributes were either temporally stationary or the information on temporal variability of the diet was not available.Main Types of Variable Contained: Temporally-varying dietary traits for birds.Spatial Location and Grain: N/A.Time Period and Grain: Variation in diet was captured at a monthly temporal resolution.Major Taxa and Level of Measurement: Birds, species level.Software Format: .csv/.rds

Automated summary

This data paper presents a compilation of species-specific dietary preferences and their known intra-annual variation for over 10,000 extant bird species. The researchers obtained information on dietary preferences from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Birds of the World (BOW) online database and translated it into semi-quantitative data denoting the proportion of dietary categories utilized by each species. They found a seasonal variability in dietary attributes for 1031 bird species (approximately 10%).