Here we investigate whether two sympatric columbid species—Woodpigeon (Columba palumbus) and Turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur)—occupy similar niches.
The study, conducted in June 2016, attempted to determine the factors that may play a role in nest-niche differentiation among the two sympatric columbid species in a Moroccan Thuya (Tetraclinis articulata) forest.
Surprisingly, raphines are not the most primitive columbid, instead they are grouped with the Nicobar pigeon as their closest relative, with other closely related birds being the crowned pigeons and tooth-billed pigeon.
These differences were due mostly to increased numbers of columbid frugivores and passerine insectivores in forests on Lakeba and Aiwa Levu.
We also compared abundances of functional (feeding) guilds of landbirds, including columbid frugivores/granivores, passerine insectivores, and nectarivores, between seasons (fixed effect) and among habitats (nested within season) on Lakeba using Poisson generalized linear mixed effects models for count data.
Further studies focused on cloning and the analysis of the whole CoHV-1 genome which is needed to explain the role of the observed similarities and differences between field strains of columbid herpesviruses.
Studies of niche partitioning among Columbid species have mainly addressed food habits and foraging activities, while partitioning in relation to nest-niche differentiation has been little studied.
The identity of herpesviruses isolated in Europe from domestic pigeons (Columbid herpesvirus-1 - CoHV-1) as well as falcons and owls remains unknown.
A 822 bp of cDNA fragment consisting of the cap gene that encodes the full-length PiCV capsid protein was synthesized by Genemark Biosci & Tech Co. (Taichung, Taiwan) based on the published sequence (Columbid circovirus, isolate 9030; Accession No. AJ298229).
Columbid herpesvirus (CoHV-1) has been primary described in 1940 by Smadel et al. [ 3] as an agent affecting pigeons that caused visceral lesion such as necrosis especially in liver.
