AVONICHE: A Global Dataset of Dietary and Foraging Niches for Birds

Journal article

Motivation: The role of each animal species in an ecosystem is largely determined both by the resources it uses and the behaviours through which these resources are obtained. Even in well‐studied vertebrate groups, like birds, quantitative data on the relative use of different food resources in the context of foraging strategies are generally lacking. Most analyses in macroecology, macroevolution and conservation biology are therefore limited to simplified dietary categories, ignoring the specific foraging behaviours and substrates used to access resources. Here we present AVONICHE, a dataset quantifying proportional membership in 32 foraging niches, representing a combination of dietary categories and associated foraging strategies used by all bird species. Main Types of Variables Contained: Species‐level information on the proportional use of foraging niches, each of which is defined as a particular foraging strategy within a specific dietary category (e.g., invertebrate feeding is subdivided into 7 foraging niches based on different foraging behaviors). Spatial Location and Grain: Global. Time Period and Grain: Present. Major Taxa and Level of Measurement: All bird species (Class Aves). To allow integration with global phylogenies and other data resources published in future, we align species‐level niche data with four different taxonomic treatments: BirdTree (9993 species), Clements/eBird (10,661 species), BirdLife International (10,999 species) and the new AviList taxonomy (10,981 species). Software Format: Spreadsheet (.csv).

Authors: Sayol, F; Neate‐Clegg, M; Sheard, C; Pigot, AL; Tobias, JA

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Wiley
• Journal: Global Ecology and Biogeography
• Volume: 35
• Issue: 1
• Article number: e70197
• Publication date: 2026-01-07
• Acceptance date: 2025-12-27
• DOI: 10.1111/geb.70197
• EISSN: 1466-8238
• ISSN: 1466822X, 1466-822X
• Language: English
• Keywords: foraging strategies; Aves; macroevolution; food sources; macroecology; functional traits; diet; birds; ecological niches