Familiar British birds are learning to use an invasive wasp species as an important food source.
A team of researchers has found that Blue and Great Tits and other native birds have learnt to peck away the tips of the galls formed by the invasive Oak Marble Gall Wasp Andricus kollari and eat the protein-rich larvae inside. These, in addition to the larvae of other native gall wasps, scale insects and various other invertebrate eggs larvae and pupae, help birds survive the crucial early spring period when other food is scarce. The researchers believe that the new food source could help counteract the effects of climate change, which is causing some birds to lay their eggs too early in the year. The chicks often hatch before their main food of oak leaf-eating moth caterpillars becomes available.
Lees meer: Birdwatch Magazine
A team of researchers has found that Blue and Great Tits and other native birds have learnt to peck away the tips of the galls formed by the invasive Oak Marble Gall Wasp Andricus kollari and eat the protein-rich larvae inside. These, in addition to the larvae of other native gall wasps, scale insects and various other invertebrate eggs larvae and pupae, help birds survive the crucial early spring period when other food is scarce. The researchers believe that the new food source could help counteract the effects of climate change, which is causing some birds to lay their eggs too early in the year. The chicks often hatch before their main food of oak leaf-eating moth caterpillars becomes available.
Lees meer: Birdwatch Magazine
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