Use of the urban environment by parrots (Aves, Psittacidae) in the countryside of the state of São Paulo

• Grant number: 23/15753-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2024
• End date: January 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Theoretical Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Augusto João Piratelli
• Grantee: Ana Cecília Castro Rodrigues Silva
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências e Tecnologias para a Sustentabilidade (CCTS). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). Sorocaba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Urban organizations affect biodiversity in various ways. Different species will have distinct relationships with the city when it comes to resource exploitation. Several species of parrots from the Psittacidae family frequent urban centers, and detecting the possible ecological peculiarities of this group's life in cities can elucidate patterns of new species' arrival in urban centers. The objective is to verify how the use of resources in the urban area by parrots is distributed throughout the dry and rainy seasons, identify which species of parrots are most frequently sighted in the study area, as well as their abundance, and examine how landscape characteristics affect parrot preferences. The study will be conducted in the city of Sorocaba. Data collection will be done on foot with the aid of binoculars, following random routes starting from 30 points randomly defined within Sorocaba's urban grid. Data collection may occur in the early morning or late afternoon, during two hours. During data collection, observers will record each instance of visual sightings of parrots on a predefined table. The analysis of the collected data will be performed by comparing resource usage at different times using Analysis of Variance. To determine which components of the urban landscape are determinants for the presence of parrots, Generalized Mixed Models will be used. The species sighted and the number of individuals will be analyzed considering the sighting frequency of each species and abundance, using descriptive statistics and Analysis of Variance.