scholarly journals The Effect of Forest Management on the Avifauna of a Brazilian Dry Forest

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Ramos Ribeiro ◽  
Flor Maria Guedes Las-Casas ◽  
Hevana Santana de Lima ◽  
Weber Andrade de Girão e Silva ◽  
Luciano Nicolás Naka
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Dry Forest ◽  
Northeastern Brazil ◽  
Natural Forests ◽  
Bird Abundance ◽  
Entire Area ◽  
Semi Arid

The conversion of tropical habitats has dramatic implications on biodiversity and represents one of the greatest conservation challenges of our time. Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests (SDTF), which are disjointly distributed throughout the Neotropics, are especially susceptible to human activities. The Caatinga Dry Forest, located in the semi-arid interior of northeastern Brazil, represents not only the largest and most biologically diverse nucleus of SDTF, but also the world’s most densely populated semi-arid region, with ever-growing pressure on its natural resources. To prevent illegal logging, conservation agencies looked at forest management, where an area is divided in smaller stands which are gradually logged and allowed to regrow for a period of time, when a new cutting cycle should reinitiate. The impacts of these management schemes on biodiversity, however, remain largely untested. We conducted standardized avian surveys to evaluate the effects of forest management on the avian community at a 1,670 ha privately owned property located on the Chapada do Araripe, northeastern Brazil. This area was divided in 22 forest stands, half of which had already been logged at the time of our sampling, creating a gradient of logged and natural forests and an 11-yr chrono-sequence of forest regeneration. Our results show that logged areas present fewer individuals, fewer species, and different avian assemblages than unlogged forests. Such differences are mostly driven by forest-dependent species, which were overwhelmingly affected by forest management. Our results show that although logged forests tend to recover its height after a decade, they do not recover the originally forest cover, measured by the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index. Likewise, decade-long recovering stands continue to show lower species richness, lower bird abundance, and different avian composition than unlogged forests. We identified a set of bird species that are more affected by forest management (ecological losers) and a group of birds that apparently benefit from the referred changes in land use (ecological winners). We conclude that completely managing an entire area may cause the extirpation of several forest-dependent species. We therefore suggest keeping logged and unlogged plots intermingled, to avoid local extinctions and the complete modification of the original avifauna.

scholarly journals LAND USE/LAND COVER CHANGES IN SEMI-ARID MOUNTAIN LANDSCAPE IN SOUTHERN INDIA: A GEOINFORMATICS BASED MARKOV CHAIN APPROACH

2017 ◽  
Vol XLII-1/W1 ◽  
pp. 231-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. A. Rahaman ◽  
S. Aruchamy ◽  
K. Balasubramani ◽  
R. Jegankumar
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
Southern India ◽  
Vegetation Changes ◽  
Land Use Land Cover ◽  
Mountain Landscape ◽  
Semi Arid

Nowadays land use/ land cover in mountain landscape is in critical condition; it leads to high risky and uncertain environments. These areas are facing multiple stresses including degradation of land resources; vagaries of climate and depletion of water resources continuously affect land use practices and livelihoods. To understand the Land use/Land cover (Lu/Lc) changes in a semi-arid mountain landscape, Kallar watershed of Bhavani basin, in southern India has been chosen. Most of the hilly part in the study area covers with forest, plantation, orchards and vegetables and which are highly affected by severe soil erosion, landslide, frequent rainfall failures and associated drought. The foothill regions are mainly utilized for agriculture practices; due to water scarcity and meagre income, the productive agriculture lands are converted into settlement plots and wasteland. Hence, land use/land cover change deduction; a stochastic processed based method is indispensable for future prediction. For identification of land use/land cover, and vegetation changes, Landsat TM, ETM (1995, 2005) and IRS P6- LISS IV (2015) images were used. Through CAMarkov chain analysis, Lu/Lc changes in past three decades (1995, 2005, and 2015) were identified and projected for (2020 and 2025); Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) were used to find the vegetation changes. The result shows that, maximum changes occur in the plantation and slight changes found in forest cover in the hilly terrain. In foothill areas, agriculture lands were decreased while wastelands and settlement plots were increased. The outcome of the results helps to farmer and policy makers to draw optimal lands use planning and better management strategies for sustainable development of natural resources.

Early seral hardwood vegetation increases adult and fledgling bird abundance in Douglas-fir plantations of the Oregon Coast Range, USA

2012 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 918-933 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tana M. Ellis ◽  
Andrew J. Kroll ◽  
Matthew G. Betts
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Relative Magnitude ◽  
Breeding Habitat ◽  
Population Declines ◽  
Private Lands ◽  
Bird Abundance ◽  
Catharus Ustulatus

Recent evidence suggests that population declines of bird species associated with early-successional forest conditions may be associated with reduced quality of breeding habitat. Increasing intensity of forest management on private lands and decreased harvest rates on federal lands in the Pacific Northwest, USA, have resulted in a loss of diverse young forest stands, typically called early seral forest. Previous studies suggest that the amount of early seral broadleaf cover within conifer forests is linked to the composition of foliage-gleaning bird communities. However, information regarding productivity and juvenile use of post-breeding habitat in highly modified plantation habitat is lacking. We examined the relationship between vegetation structure resulting from intensive forest management practices and the abundance of five species of leaf-gleaning, neotropical migrants: orange-crowned warbler ( Oreothlypis celata (Say, 1823)), Wilson’s warbler ( Wilsonia pusilla (A. Wilson, 1811)), MacGillivray’s warbler ( Oporornis tolmiei (J.K. Townsend, 1839)), Swainson’s thrush ( Catharus ustulatus (Nuttall, 1840)), and black-headed grosbeak ( Pheucticus melanocephalus (Swainson, 1827)). All species, except MacGillivray’s warbler, showed positive associations with the amount of early seral hardwood cover as fledglings, breeding adults, or both. However, the relative magnitude of these associations varied, suggesting that other factors may also have influenced avian responses. Abundances of breeding pairs and young are likely to show positive responses to management practices that increase early seral hardwood cover in regenerating stands. If adopted at landscape and regional scales, such practices may positively influence population trends of several declining bird species.

Avifauna and biogeographical affinities of a carrasco-dominated landscape in north-eastern Brazil: providing baseline data for future monitoring

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
HEVANA SANTANA DE LIMA ◽  
FLOR MARIA GUEDES LAS-CASAS ◽  
JONATHAN RAMOS RIBEIRO ◽  
WEBER ANDRADE GIRÃO ◽  
DANIELE MARIZ ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Vegetation Type ◽  
Survey Methods ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Management Program ◽  
Baseline Data ◽  
Dry Forest ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Eastern Brazil ◽  
North Eastern

Summary The carrasco is a dense, shrubby vegetation type that covers the higher parts of table-top mountains in north-eastern Brazil. The vegetation of this phytophysiognomy is often considered to have biogeographical and ecological affinities with the cerrado of Central Brazil, but the biogeographical affinities of its avifauna remain unclear. In recent years, deforestation due to local economic activities has been particularly severe in some carrasco-dominated landscapes. In 2013, we initiated avian surveys at the Fazenda Pau D‘Arco, a privately owned property located on top of the Araripe Plateau, to evaluate the effects of a legal forest management program on the avifauna. Here, we present the results of four years of avian inventories to: i) characterize a well-preserved patch of carrasco vegetation; ii) assess avian biogeographical affinities of this vegetation type; iii) identify associations between managed/unmanaged areas and bird species; and iv) provide baseline data for future avian monitoring studies. Using different survey methods, we provide a list of 148 bird species, including several dry-forest specialists and caatinga endemics. Biogeographically, the avifauna of the carrasco represents a subsample of the Caatinga dry forest, lacking cerrado elements. Forest management significantly affected the distribution of several bird species in the study area. We found that 1/5 of the species (24) recorded during our standardized surveys were significantly associated with either unmanaged (14 species) or managed (10 species) areas. Species such as the Ceará Leaftosser Sclerurus cearensis, a globally vulnerable species, have only been detected in non-managed areas and therefore can be negatively affected by the management program. We also present data on 16 avian taxa with ecological and conservation concerns. By presenting a fairly complete and documented list of the avifauna, we characterize the carrasco avifauna and offer the tools to evaluate the effects of forest management on this poorly known vegetation type.

scholarly journals Migratory bird species in young tropical forest restoration sites: effects of vegetation height, planting design, and season

2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
CATHERINE A. LINDELL ◽  
REBECCA J. COLE ◽  
KAREN D. HOLL ◽  
RAKAN A. ZAHAWI
Keyword(s):  
Forest Restoration ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Migratory Bird ◽  
Control Treatment ◽  
Entire Area ◽  
Planting Design ◽  
Bird Populations ◽  
Vegetation Height

SummaryTropical land cover change has negatively affected numerous migratory bird populations. Forest restoration can augment migrant wintering habitat. However, almost no information exists about factors that influence migrant use of tropical restoration sites. We sampled migrant birds in young restoration sites in Costa Rica from February 2006 to April 2008 to determine how vegetation height, planting design, season, and landscape forest cover influenced capture rates of four declining species. We also documented total numbers of migratory species and individuals captured in each planting design treatment; each site had a control treatment where seedlings were not planted, an island treatment where seedlings were planted in patches, and a plantation treatment where seedlings were planted to cover the entire area. Sites varied in landscape forest cover within 500 m buffers. Three out of four focal species were captured significantly more often in plantation treatments than island or control treatments. Two of the four species showed seasonal patterns and one species was captured more often in high-vegetation sites. Greater numbers of species and individuals were captured in plantation treatments compared to island and control treatments. The plantation planting design increased migrant use more quickly than the island planting design. When resources are available, we recommend planting plantation-style to rapidly increase the value of restoration sites to a range of species, particularly those that use woody vegetation. When resources are more limited, planting islands may be a cost-effective, although not as ecologically effective, alternative that supports a diversity of migrant species compared to unplanted controls.

scholarly journals Landscape Structure and Seasonality: Effects on Wildlife Species Richness and Occupancy in a Fragmented Dry Forest in Coastal Ecuador

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 3762
Author(s):  
Xavier Haro-Carrión ◽  
Jon Johnston ◽  
Maria Juliana Bedoya-Durán
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
Dry Forest ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Landscape Characteristics ◽  
Wildlife Species ◽  
Species Occupancy

Despite high fragmentation and deforestation, little is known about wildlife species richness and occurrence probabilities in tropical dry forest (TDF) landscapes. To fill this gap in knowledge, we used a Sentinel-2-derived land-cover map, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data and a multi-species occupancy model to correct for detectability to assess the effect of landscape characteristics on medium and large mammal occurrence and richness in three TDF areas that differ in disturbance and seasonality in Ecuador. We recorded 15 species of medium and large mammals, distributed in 12 families; 1 species is critically Endangered, and 2 are Near-Threatened. The results indicate that species occupancy is related to low forest cover and high vegetation seasonality (i.e., high difference in NDVI between the wet and dry seasons). We believe that the apparent negative effect of forest cover is an indicator of species tolerance for disturbance. The three sampling areas varied from 98% to 40% forest cover, yet species richness and occupancy were not significantly different among them. Vegetation seasonality indicates that more seasonal forests (i.e., those where most tree species lose their leaves during the dry season) tend to have higher mammal species occupancy compared to less seasonal, semi-deciduous forests. Overall, occupancy did not vary between the dry and wet seasons, but species-specific data indicate that some species exhibit higher occupancy during the wet season. This research offers a good understanding of mammal species’ responses to habitat disturbance and fragmentation in TDFs and provides insights to promote their conservation.

scholarly journals The arboreal component of a dry forest in Northeastern Brazil

2006 ◽  
Vol 66 (2a) ◽  
pp. 479-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. N. Rodal ◽  
L. M. Nascimento
Keyword(s):  
Floristic Composition ◽  
Sensu Stricto ◽  
Dry Forest ◽  
Northeastern Brazil ◽  
Forest Transition ◽  
Humid Forest ◽  
Dead Trees ◽  
Composition And Structure ◽  
Standing Dead ◽  
Semi Arid

The dry forests of northeastern Brazil are found near the coastal zone and on low, isolated mountains inland amid semi-arid vegetation. The floristic composition of these dry montane forests, as well as their relationship to humid forests (Atlantic forest sensu stricto) and to the deciduous thorn woodlands (Caatinga sensu stricto) of the Brazilian northeast are not yet well known. This paper sought to determine if the arboreal plants in a dry forest growing on a low mountain in the semi-arid inland region (Serra Negra, 8° 35’ - 8° 38’ S and 38° 02’ - 38° 04’ W) between the municipalities of Floresta and Inajá, state of Pernambuco have the same floristic composition and structure as that seen in other regional forests. In fifty 10 x 20 m plots all live and standing dead trees with trunk measuring > 5 cm diameter at breast height were measured. Floristic similarities between the forest studied and other regional forests were assessed using multivariate analysis. The results demonstrate that the dry forest studied can be classified into two groups that represent two major vegetational transitions: (1) a humid forest/dry forest transition; and (2) a deciduous thorn-woodland/ dry forest transition.

scholarly journals Scorpion diversity in two types of seasonally dry tropical forest in the semi-arid region of Northeastern Brazil

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 340-344 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Felipe Rodrigues Carmo ◽  
Heyde Polyana Amorim ◽  
Simão Dias Vasconcelos
Keyword(s):  
Arid Region ◽  
Abundant Species ◽  
Dry Forest ◽  
Northeastern Brazil ◽  
Pitfall Traps ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Seasonally Dry ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Semi Arid Region ◽  
Semi Arid

Knowledge on arthropod assemblages in the Brazilian semideciduous dry forest (caatinga) is scarce, despite the increasing exposure to degradation due to human activities such as logging and intensive agriculture. We performed a short-term survey on the diversity of scorpions in two types of caatinga (hipoxerophytic and hiperxerophytic) in Pernambuco State, Northeastern Brazil. A combination of active collection and pitfall traps was used to sample soil scorpions. Six species belonging to two families were registered: Bothriurus asper, Bothriurus rochai (Bothriuridae), Tityus stigmurus, Tityus pusillus, Rhopalurus rochai and Ananteris franckei (Buthidae). There was no significant difference in the richness and the abundance of scorpions in the two types of caatinga. Bothriurus asper was the most abundant species in both environments. Regarding constancy, all species were classified as accidental.

scholarly journals A landscape-scale assessment of the response of birds to land cover, climate, and forest management

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jaymi J. LeBrun
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Canopy Cover ◽  
Northern Bobwhite ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Management Scenarios ◽  
Bird Abundance

Climate change will likely increase temperatures across the globe as well as alter regional climates. These climate shifts have the potential to substantially change vegetation and reshape both plant and animal distributions. To mitigate these potential changes, scientists have suggested management strategies focused on forest resilience, response, and carbon sequestration. The goal of this research was to determine the current impacts of land cover and regional climate on birds in the Midwest, and use these current relationships to assess the direct and indirect effects of future climate and management on avian abundance in Missouri. I coupled the Bayesian model with a landscape simulation model (LANDIS PRO) to predict bird abundance 100 years into the future for a range of climate and forest management scenarios. Forest and canopy cover were the primary drivers of current bird abundance, however, temperature was influential for early successional species. In addition, the most significant climate related effect was for the northern bobwhite with higher abundances under warmer winters. For most birds, management had a greater impact on future abundance than climate, however, species currently exhibiting direct effects of climate showed compounded effects associated with management. Even though we expect land cover to change very little due to climate, we did see one bird (i.e., northern bobwhite) affect by climate-induced changes to vegetation. Managing forest cover will be key for mitigating the effects of future climate for birds.

scholarly journals Avifauna silvestre como recurso alimentar em áreas de semiárido no estado do Rio Grande do Norte, Brasil

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dandara Monalisa Mariz Bezerra ◽  
Helder Farias Pereira De Araujo ◽  
Rômulo Romeu Nóbrega Alves
Keyword(s):  
Wildlife Management ◽  
Population Studies ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Rio Grande ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Wild Birds ◽  
Northeastern Brazil ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Management And Conservation ◽  
Semi Arid

The present workwas undertaken with the cooperation of locals in the municipalities of Caicó and São João do Sabugi in the semi-arid regionof Rio Grande do Norte State, northeastern Brazil. We listed the wild birds used as sources of food in the region anddescribed the techniques used to capture them. Field work was carried out between January and February of 2010, duringwhich a total of 60 locals, that used or interacted with wild birds in some way, were interviewed. Information was obtainedthrough semi-structured interviews from each individual. A total of 13 wild bird species, distributed among six orders andsix families, were identified; the Columbidae family was the best represented in terms of the numbers of species. Zenaidaauriculata was cited most. The birds were captured using five techniques: “arapuca” (a non-lethal fall-trap), “espera”(waiting in a blind), “sangra” (a non-lethal fall-trap), “fôjo” (dead-fall), and “rede” (netting); ‘Waiting in a blind’ was thetechnique most cited. The use of wild birds as sources of food, together with the general lack of population studies ofhunting species is associated with other environmental problems that can be expected to directly or indirectly affect theirpopulations. In this context, more studies should be undertaken focusing on these issues, because only then will it bepossible to implement adequate wildlife management and conservation programs that can be linked to the socio-culturalcontext of the region.

scholarly journals Forest degradation, not loss, drives widespread avian population declines

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Betts ◽  
Zhiqiang Yang ◽  
Adam Hadley ◽  
Josee Rousseau ◽  
Joseph Northrup ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Loss ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Forest Degradation ◽  
Breeding Habitat ◽  
Population Declines ◽  
Distribution Models ◽  
Eastern Canada ◽  
Bird Abundance

Abstract In many regions of the world, forest management has reduced old forest and simplified forest structure and composition via reliance on monoculture tree plantations. We hypothesized that such forest degradation has resulted in long-term habitat loss for forest-associated bird species of eastern Canada (130,017 km2) which, in turn, has affected bird population declines. Back-cast species distribution models revealed that despite little change in overall forest cover, breeding habitat loss occurred for 66% of the 54 most common species from 1985-2020. This habitat loss was strongly associated with population declines for 72% of species, as quantified in an independent, long-term dataset. Since 1985, net forest bird abundance has declined in this region by an estimated 33-104 million birds due to habitat loss alone. The effects of forest degradation may therefore be a primary cause of biodiversity decline in managed forest landscapes.  

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