Meanings
- not comparableuncommonbiologyThriving in habitats rich in bird feces.
The colonization of the different types of materials by lichens was induced, to a great extent, by the input of bird excrements, giving rise to a characteristic ornithocoprophilous flora.
1991, J. Garcia-Rowe, C. Saiz-Jimenez, “Lichens and bryophytes as agents of deterioration of building materials in Spanish cathedrals [pages 151-163]”, in International Biodeterioration, volume 28, numbers 1–4, Elsevier, via ScienceDirect, →DOI, Abstract2 more examples
Guano accumulated on bird rookeries or perches or in dust on trees near farms are rich sources of organic nitrogen, […] This phenomenon has given rise to a large literature on nitrophilous or ornithocoprophilous lichens.
1967, Mason E. Hale, Jr., “Physiology and Nutrition” (chapter 4), in The Biology of Lichens, London: Edward Arnold (Publishers) Ltd., page 58The obtained results indicate that the highest concentration of water-extractable organic carbon (WEOC) and water-extractable total nitrogen (WETN) occurs in surface horizons of soils covered with wet moss and ornithocoprophilous tundra vegetation.
2017 November 1, Wojciech Szymański, “Quantity and chemistry of water-extractable organic matter in surface horizons of Arctic soils under different types of tundra vegetation – A case study from the Fuglebergsletta coastal plain (SW Spitsbergen) [pages 30-39]”, in Geoderma, volume 305, Elsevier, via ScienceDirect, →DOI, Abstract
Origin
Cite this entry
ornithocoprophilous. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ornithocoprophilous
“ornithocoprophilous.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ornithocoprophilous. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ornithocoprophilous,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ornithocoprophilous.
Source: ornithocoprophilous on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.