Columbidae (pigeons and doves) is one of the most threatened bird families in the world. I analysed data on the BirdLife International Species Information Database to examine the distribution and causes of threat among columbids. Of 304 species extant in the wild, 59 (19%) are threatened with extinction, 48 (83%) of which have restricted ranges. All but two threatened columbid species (97%) inhabit tropical forests, and of these, 45 are island species (78% of all threatened columbid species). The taxonomic distribution of columbids follows three coherent areas: the Americas; Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia; Asia, Australasia and Oceania. Asia, Australasia and Oceania support nearly two-thirds of all extant species and three-quarters of threatened species (44), most of which (84%) are restricted range insular species. Three countries within this area are the most important for the conservation of columbid diversity: Indonesia, the Philippines and French Polynesia. Together these three countries support 40% of extant species and half of all threatened species. The greatest causes of threat to columbids are (1) habitat loss and fragmentation due to agriculture and extraction, (2) hunting for food, and (3) alien predator species. Habitat loss and fragmentation are universal threats to columbids. Hunting, however, is a significantly greater threat to species in Asia, Australasia and Oceania than to species in the other two areas and urgently needs to be addressed. I discuss the conservation implications of these findings and make research recommendations to aid and encourage the conservation of threatened columbids and their habitats.

A total of 537 crops from four coexisting granivorous doves (Columbina minuta, C. passerina, C. talpacoti and Scardafella squammata), collected on seven sampling dates in a Venezuelan savanna, were examined to assess food partitioning. These closely related doves are resident birds, and overlap broadly both in daily activity patterns and habitat use; in circumstances like this, segregation in the use of food resources often occurs. It was found that: (a) differences in body dimensions did not account for variations in seed size taken by doves; they all ate seeds in the same size range and they showed high similarity in seed size preferred; (b) the importance of different seed sizes in the diets changed seasonally with similar tendencies for all four species, (c) there were differences up to 4-fold in mean seed size consumed by individuals of the same species on the same date; (d) seeds of 63 plant species were consumed by the four dove species and constituted from 98 to 99.5% of the diets; (e) high dietary overlap both in prey size and prey type was found throughout the year. The dietary relationships found in this study support the idea that these birds forage opportunistically, and that some differences found among their diets may be the result of random seed sampling from the heterogeneous seed pool available.