Original Title: Sobre la importancia del acebo (Ilex aquifolium L.) en la ecología de la comunidad invernal de Passeriformes en la Cordillera Cantabrica occidental
Summary:
This paper studies the composition of the winter community of passerines in the west of the Cantabrian range in Galicia (Spain) from January to March (1980), together with the use made by each species of the different species of trees. The community is made up of 14 species, with a value of H' 2.02 and 43.2 birds per 10 Has. Turdus iliacus is clearly dominant, representing 27.7 % of the total population density and 40.6 % of the biomass of the community. Five of the 14 species (67 %of the biomass) use holly significantly more than might be expected. This preference for holly is due to the scarcity of the habitat and involves winter dietary behaviour, temperature maintenance and refuge from predators. These factors are briefly discussed, together with the relation between the low food value of holly berries and their consumption by Turdus spp. and Garrulus, and that between the survival of T. iliacus and the dispersion of holly berries it effects.
