SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL RESPONSES OF FOREST BIRDS TO HUMAN DISTURBANCE AND MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS FOR COEXISTENCE

FERNÁNDEZ-JURICIC, ESTEBAN; VACA, RAÚL; SCHROEDER, NATALIA

Duluth

Congreso; 17th Annual Meeting Society for Conservation Biology; 2003

Society for Conservation Biology

Relatively little is known about the effects of visitors to protected areas on small forest birds. We analyzed the spatial and temporal responses of five species to human approaches in a reserve in central Argentina. We considered three components of flight distances: horizontal, vertical, and diagonal. We found that (a) the relationships between horizontal and vertical components of flight distance were negative (Zonotrichia capensis, Saltator aurantiirostris, Turdus chiguanco), positive (Columba maculosa), and neutral (Molothrus badius), and (b) the probabilities of fleeing increased when individuals were in the upper and outer portion of trees. These findings suggest that differential exposure of the perching site could greatly modify bird tolerance to visitors. Interspecific comparisons showed that (c) all flight distance components increased linearly with body size, and (d) species differed in landing distances but not in response duration: large-bodied species tended to land farther than smaller-bodied ones. We recommend two management scenarios for differently sized species to promote coexistence between visitors and wildlife: to reduce the amount of a protected area accessible to visitors for large-bodied species, and to manage the rate of human visitation (redistributing the number of visitors in pathways) for small-bodied species