Land use changes and bird diversity in subtropical forests: urban development as the underlying factor

SILVETTI LUNA; GAVIER PIZARRO G. I; SOLARI, L; ARCAMONE, J; BELLIS, L. M.

BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2022

0960-3115

The Serrano Chaco forest is the least extended Gran Chaco forest type with a long history of human disturbances, such as ranching, urbanization, fires, an exotic tree speciesexpansion, which have altered natural vegetation and, therefore, the resources availablefor avifauna. However, the impact of these disturbances on Serrano forest birds has received little attention. Here, using functional and taxonomic approaches, we exploredthe environmental, topographical and anthropogenic factors determining bird communitystructure in the Serrano forests at different spatial scales (< 250 m 500- and 1000-m).We used a combination of satellite imagery-based data and field sampling. We identifiedthree ecological groups of birds: forest specialist, understory specialist and generalists,and classified them into functional groups according to life history traits and habitat use.We found that the response to landscape structure varied with the spatial scale and birdgroup; however, urban development and exotic trees forest occurrence were consistentlypresent among the main factors reducing functional and taxonomic diversity of forestand understory birds. At the 1000-m scales, forest specialist birds tended to disappearfrom the areas with dense urbanization in areas with low percentage of Serrano forest.In landscape dominated by L. lucidum, forest understory birds tended to disappear. In allcases, generalist species expanded towards those areas. Our results indicate that the functional roles of avifauna are being greatly modified, potentially affecting forest ecosystemfunctioning. Restoration strategies must be implemented to preserve the last remnants ofSerrano forest