Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia (Jan 2013)

Long-term avifaunal survey in an urban ecosystem from southeastern Brazil, with comments on range extensions, new and disappearing species

  • Marcelo Ferreira de Vasconcelos,
  • Eduardo de Carvalho Dutra,
  • Luiz Gabriel Mazzoni,
  • Letícia Ferreira Pedroso,
  • Alyne Perillo,
  • Fernando Augusto Valério,
  • Tadeu Guerra,
  • Diego Petrocchi,
  • Rodrigo Morais,
  • Lucas Penna Soares Santos,
  • Bruno Garzon,
  • Juan Espanha Moreira Dias,
  • José Enemir dos Santos,
  • Allan Suhett de Morais,
  • Letícia Souza Lima Guimarães,
  • Frederico Innecco Alves Garcia,
  • Thiago Oliveira e Almeida,
  • Carlos Eduardo Ribas Tameirão Benfica,
  • Helberth José Cardoso Peixoto,
  • Bruno Pardinho Ribeiro

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1590/S0031-10492013002500001
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 53, no. 25
pp. 327 – 344

Abstract

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Urban avifaunal surveys in Brazil have been increasing in recent years, despite none of them consisting of long-term studies indicating events of regional colonization and/or missing species. Here, we present an avifaunal survey of an urbanized ecosystem in southeastern Brazil, carried out along 30 years, on the campus of the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais, municipality of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais state. Inside the campus there is a forest reserve adjacent to a small lake. The inventory was mainly based on opportunistic records from the years 1982-2013. We recorded 134 bird species along the past 30 years. However, the present avifauna is composed of 123 species. A total of 97 species was recorded in the reserve, including the forest fragment and the adjacent lake, of which 44 were exclusive to this area. Nevertheless, the majority of the current species found in the study area is forest independent (N = 51) or semi-dependent (N = 46). There is a predominance of insectivorous (N = 43) and omnivorous (N = 29) species. The current avifauna is represented by 15 migratory species, which can be found both in the urbanized area and in the forest remnant. However, the majority of the species (N = 75) is resident in the area, including three invasive species, whereas few others (N = 28) are occasional visitors. The remaining species were probably introduced in the area. There were 11 cases of disappearing species, which include typical forest birds, and also species typical of wetlands and rural environments. We also comment on recent colonization and on the possible effects of isolation on birds. Probably, the majority of forest-dependents are on the brink of extinction in the forest fragment. Thus, the species' list provided here can be useful as a database for monitoring long-term effects of urbanization on this bird community.

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