Bird community composition on a cacao plantation in Venezuela.

  • Carlos Verea Universidad Central de Venezuela
  • Cristina Sainz-Borgo Universidad Central de Venezuela
Keywords: Agroecosystem, Agroforestry, Bird biodiversity, Conservation, Shade-grown crop

Abstract

In order to know the bird diversity on a cacao Theobroma cacao plantation with high agricultural management, and its role as habitat for local birds and avifauna conservation, 36 mist-netting sessions (2,592 net-h) were carried out from January to December 2012. A total of 635 individuals from 59 species were captured. A high diversity index was obtained. Additionally, 26 species were visually and/or acoustically recorded, for a total richness of 85 species. The following conservation indicators were obtained from the overall avifauna: five endemic birds (species/subspecies), five migratory species (boreal, austral, and local travelers), and four waterbirds. Also, the families bioindicators of environmental quality were well represented. The insectivores were the richest feeding guild. These attributes confer certain value for bird conservation to the plantation studied. Nonetheless, a high fraction (86%) of these species were transient birds that eventually (1–3 captures/year) visited the plantation. These birds were benefited from the lack of a well-structured understory and many of them (29%) are catalogued as disturbed area birds. Thus, the plantation studied was only able to hold a low number of local birds and it was practically dominated by one nectar-dependent species: Glaucis hirsutus (32.1% of total captures). Due to this, Trochilidae was the main taxonomic group (51.3% of total captures), and also made the nectarivores-insectivores the main feeding guild (56.4% of total captures). These results suggest that our cacao plantation with a high level of management does not stand out as an appropriate ecosystem for local birds or bird conservation.

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Published
2021-02-01
How to Cite
Verea, C., & Sainz-Borgo, C. (2021). Bird community composition on a cacao plantation in Venezuela. Boletín Del Centro De Investigaciones Biológicas, 54(1), 1-25. Retrieved from https://mail.produccioncientificaluz.org/index.php/boletin/article/view/35114