Birds of prey in the Cerrado and Pantanal Biomes of Mato Grosso do Sul State: dive...
| Grant number: | 12/13195-1 |
| Support type: | Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate |
| Effective date (Start): | February 20, 2013 |
| Effective date (End): | February 19, 2014 |
| Field of knowledge: | Biological Sciences - Zoology |
| Principal Investigator: | Luís Fábio Silveira |
| Grantee: | Francisco Voeroes Dénes |
| Supervisor abroad: | Steven R. Beissinger |
| Home Institution: | Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil |
| Local de pesquisa : | University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), United States |
| Associated to the scholarship: | 10/08528-6 - Birds of prey in the Cerrado and Pantanal Biomes of Mato Grosso do Sul State: diversity, abundance, distribution, movements, and effects of habitat degradation, BP.DR |
Abstract Research tools such as ecological models and remote sensing have shown increasing usefulness in the understanding of the behavior of populations or natural systems and in conservation decision-making, but are still timidly utilized in raptor biology and conservation studies, and even more so for Neotropical species. Habitat loss and degradation is increasing in most non- forest natural formations in Brazil and the concern for the conservation of biodiversity in these biomes, of which birds of prey are a significant part with high biological value, is justified. The objectives of this project are to determine how the raptor community of the Cerrado and Pantanal in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil will respond to long-term land-use and climate change. I will use ecological models to probe relationships between raptor count data from road surveys in open habitats over a three-year period and land-use change measured from remotely sensed images and climatic nichesmeasured from climatic datasets. I will: (1) assess the effects of seasonality, habitat transformation and fragmentation on raptor community characteristics; (2) project the distribution of selected species and their possible distribution shifts between seasons and for future climatic scenarios using Ecological Niche Models; (3) investigate the suitability of the studied species as environment quality indicators; and (4) design a long-term raptor-monitoring program in the study area. (AU) | |