Sensitivity to fragmentation and spatial distribution of birds in forest fragments of northern paraná

Abstract

In this study we investigated the relationship between the sensitivity to forest fragmentation of bird species and their habitat spatial distribution. We hypothesized that a homogenous spatial distribution is associated to habitat-generalist species, which would tend to be less sensitive to forest fragmentation; in contrast, a heterogeneous spatial distribution would drive to an increase of sensitivity to forest fragmentation. We concentrated on analyses of the suboscine birds, which are known to be closely associated to microhabitats. Field data was obtained in the Parque Estadual Mata dos Godoy (23°27′ S, 51°15′ W), southern Brazilian Atlantic forest. This reserve has high Biotic Integrity levels, with a relatively high number of recorded suboscines. Forty three species of suboscines were recorded, of which 21 species were considered to have high sensitivity and 22 to have low sensitivity to forest fragmentation. There was no association between levels of sensitivity to forest fragmentation and spatial distribution of suboscines. We only found significant correlation with the group of the subcanopy suboscines at the northern portion of Parque Estadual Mata dos Godoy. Therefore, we found a weak relationship between spatial distribution (habitat specialization) and sensitivity to forest fragmentation. The fact that habitat-specialist birds tend to live at the northern portion of Godoy State Park, which has the first type of terrain in a landscape to be converted into agriculture, indicate that that region has special importance for conservation.