Comunidades de aves de bosques y pastizales en los afloramientos rocosos aislados del Paraje Tres Cerros, Corrientes, Argentina

FANDIÑO, BLAS; FERNÁNDEZ, JUAN MANUEL; THOMANN, MARÍA LUZ; CAJADE, RODRIGO; HERNANDO, ALEJANDRA BEATRIZ

REVISTA DE BIOLOGíA TROPICAL

REVISTA DE BIOLOGIA TROPICAL

Lugar: Turrialba; Año: 2017 vol. 65 p. 535 - 550

0034-7744

Isolated rocky outcrops can act as patch habitats that host great biodiversity throughthe diversity of microhabitats, presence of restricted taxa and the high turnover of species in the patch matrix.The isolated rocky outcrops of Paraje Tres Cerros (ARPTC), Corrientes, Argentina, are a unique landscape inthe region and biologically little explored. We conducted a study to describe for the first time the bird communityof the forest and grassland of the ARPTC, using 136 lists following the ten species Mackinnon methodfrom the breeding and non-breeding seasons. We evaluated the diversity, trophic guilds and phenology of thespecies, and compared attributes of grassland and forest communities. The total species richness was 107, withthe forest being 1.3 times more diverse than the grassland. Completeness of inventories ranged from 83-90 %in the grassland and 88 to 99 % in the forest. The habitat complementarity was 62 %, indicating the presenceof several species exclusive of forest and grassland habitats. The trophic structure of communities showed agood representation of insectivorous birds in both habitats. Frugivorous birds were more frequent in the forestand granivorous birds were more frequent in the grasslands. Due to the arrival of migrant species, both habitatshad significantly higher richness in the breeding season than in the non-breeding season. Our results showedsimilar general aspects and patterns for bird communities and with specific studies for bird communities of rockyoutcrops. The present study highlights the importance of the isolated rocky outcrops of Paraje Tres Cerros forthe protection of local and regional bird biodiversity and represents a benchmark for the management and theprotection of these ecosystems.