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| Author(s): |
Eduardo Roberto Alexandrino
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | Piracicaba. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALA/BC) |
| Defense date: | 2015-08-27 |
| Examining board members: |
Hilton Thadeu Zarate do Couto;
Luiz dos Anjos;
Sílvio Frosini de Barros Ferraz;
Augusto Joao Piratelli;
Milton Cezar Ribeiro
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| Advisor: | Hilton Thadeu Zarate do Couto; Katia Maria Paschoaletto Micchi de Barros Ferraz |
| Abstract | |
Because human-modified landscapes (HML) are dynamic and have structural complexity, continuous research is necessary to improve knowledge about the HML impacts on the biodiversity, as well as to provide knowledge of which current species may reflect the environmental conditions existing there. Thus, considering birds as sample of the HML existing biodiversity, the following thesis aimed to: 1) describe the bird assemblages of Atlantic Forest patches located in HML and bird assemblages of the interior of cattle pastures and sugar cane crops, 2) identify a proper bird analytical approach to assess the existing ecological integrity of forest patches in HML, 3) assess the effects of the landscape features (dynamic and structure) on the bird assemblages of forest patches in HML, 4) identify which landscapes features of both crops may exert influence on the bird assemblage composition of each crop. Bird sampling was performed monthly along one year (Nov 2011 - Nov 2012) in eight forest patches with different historical and size (3 - 115 ha), and eight sites located in the interior of each crop (four in cattle pasture and four in sugar cane), using point counts and transects. Five focal landscapes (16 km2) located in a typical HML of São Paulo state (Corumbataí river basin) were used to select these sampling sites. The rank of ecosystem services provisioning of Ferraz et al. (2014) was used as a measurement of the existing gradient of human disturbance in the forest patches, which was built through information about forest dynamic and structure. The landscape features of each crop were collected through two scale of analysis (circular buffers with 600 and 1000 radius meters) taking into account metrics that may represent the landscape heterogeneity. 191 species were observed in the forest patches while 137 in the crops. The forest birds, non-forest birds, birds with forest-non-forest habits, small understory-midstory insectivorous, species with foraging habits in the midstory strata, threatened and endemic species, were the best ecological indicators of the forest patches. These bird groups were used as database in the development of the Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI), a multimetric approach, which showed a better performance to indicate the existent integrity in the forest patches in comparison with \"sensitivity to disturbance\" of Parker III et al. (1996), total species richness and Shannon´s diversity index. 132 species were observed in cattle pastures while 72 in sugar cane. Both richness and relative abundance of some bird groups were explained by the landscape heterogeneity variation. Thus, it is possible to conclude that some classical birds analytical approaches may be flawed in the ecological assessment of Atlantic Forest patches inserted in HML. New analytical approaches should be explored, and the IBI is a possible alternative. The bird\'s assemblage differences between cattle pastures (high heterogeneity) and sugar cane (low heterogeneity) are an example of the negative consequences caused by the crops homogenization on the living biodiversity of agricultural landscapes. (AU) | |
| FAPESP's process: | 10/05343-5 - Impacts of the anthropogenic landscape structure and its dynamics on bird communities |
| Grantee: | Eduardo Roberto Alexandrino |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate |