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Bird Usage Of Black Marasmius Fibers As Nest Material, Haris Rana, Shayla Smithson, Jack Jackson, Ragupathy Kannan
Bird Usage Of Black Marasmius Fibers As Nest Material, Haris Rana, Shayla Smithson, Jack Jackson, Ragupathy Kannan
Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science
Black Marasmius fungal fibers have been frequently observed in neotropical bird nests. We tested to determine if superior tensile strength and temperature moderation contributes to why these fibers are preferred by some species over other available nesting materials. Marasmius fibers from nests of Yellow-olive Flycatchers (Tolmomyias sulphurescens) were compared to grass fibers from a Yellow-tailed Oriole (Icterus mesomelas) nest from the same area in Belize, Central America. We measured tensile strengths by a universal strength tester which stretched the fibers to their breaking point. We also used HOBO data loggers to compare the temperature differential between …