Conducting rigorous avian inventories: Amazonian case studies and a roadmap for improvement

Lees, Alexander Charles; Naka, Luciano N.; Aleixo, Alexandre Luis Padovan; Cohn‐Haft, Mario; Piacentini, Vítor de Queiroz; Santos, Marcos Pérsio Dantas; Silveira, Luís Fábio

doi:10.1007/bf03544240

Cited by 35 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…The digital voucher revolution ushered in an era of evidence‐based qualitative ornithology that permits both instant peer‐review of bird records (Lees et al . ) and an exponential expansion in the total number of bird records as amateur ornithological observations are amassed (Dickinson et al . ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exposing hidden endemism in a Neotropical forest raptor using citizen science

Lees

Martin

2014

Ibis

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Gaps in our knowledge of the geographical distribution of species represent a fundamental challenge to biogeographers and conservation biologists alike, and are particularly pervasive in the tropics. Here we highlight the case of the Rufous-thighed Kite Harpagus diodon, a South American raptor commonly mapped as resident across half the continent. Recent observations at migration watch points have indicated it may be partially migratory in the southernmost parts of its range. To investigate this possibility, we collated contemporary and historical specimen records, published sight records and 'digital vouchers'photographs and sound-recordings archived online (from citizen science initiatives)and explored the spatiotemporal distribution of records. We were unable to trace any documented records of this species from Amazonia during the austral summer (October-March), or records from the Atlantic Forest biome during the peak of the Austral winter (June-August), and all proven breeding records stem from the Atlantic Forest region. We compared this pattern with that of a 'control' species, the congeneric Double-toothed Kite H. bidentatus, again using specimens and digital vouchers. For this species we found no evidence of seasonality between biomes and can disregard spatiotemporal variation in observer effort as a cause of seasonal biases. We consider that all populations of Rufous-thighed Kites are fully migratory, wintering in Equatorial forests in the Amazonian basin. We provide evidence that this pattern was previously obscured by erroneous undocumented records and poor or erroneous specimen metadata, and its discovery was primarily facilitated by digital vouchers. This discovery requires a reassessment of the species' global conservation status as an Atlantic Forest breeding endemic, threatened by habitat loss and degradation, as it was previously considered to be resident across large swathes of undisturbed Amazonian Forest on the Guiana Shield. The bulk of the digital voucher data used to elucidate this pattern were extracted from a Brazilian citizen science initiative WikiAves, which may serve as a model for collating biodiversity data in megadiverse countries and help catalyse environmental awareness.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exposing hidden endemism in a Neotropical forest raptor using citizen science

Lees

Martin

2014

Ibis

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“…Although we did not resample any site to account for detection rates, we have no reason to suspect differences in detectability between black‐ and whitewater floodplain forests for any of our focal species. Throughout the surveys, we documented some of our detections with audio recordings and photographs, which are available online (xeno‐canto.org and wikiaves.com.br), following a basic guideline in rigorous avian inventories (Lees et al., ). Detections identified only to the genus level were excluded from the analyses.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using river color to predict Amazonian floodplain forest avifaunas in the world's largest blackwater river basin

2019

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| INTRODUC TI ONOne of Amazonia's most striking features is the diversity of "colors" of its many rivers. The distinction between white-, black-, and clearwater rivers was recognized by early naturalists in the Amazon basin (e.g., Wallace, 1853; Holdridge, 1933) and long before them in the very names of the rivers, such as "Rio Negro" and "Rio Branco." River "color" (i.e., river type; hereafter used interchangeably) classification is based on the color and other physical and chemical parameters of the water, which in turn are related to the geomorphology of the river's catchment region (Sioli, 1968;Janzen, 1974). Turbid and nutrient-rich whitewater rivers (e.g., Rio Madeira) mostly drain the Abstract Despite the importance of rivers in Amazonian biogeography, avian distribution patterns in river-created habitats (i.e., floodplain forests) have been sparsely addressed.Here, we explore geographic variation in floodplain forest avifaunas, specifically regarding one of the most striking aspects of the Amazon: the diversity of river "colors" (i.e., types, based on the color of the water). We sampled the avifauna at 30 sites, located in 17 different rivers (nine black-and eight whitewater), in the Rio Negro basin, northwestern Brazil. Our sampling comprised ten 15-min point-counts per site, distributed every 500-1000 m along the river. We recorded a total of 352 bird species, many of which occurred in both river types. Although bird species richness was similar among rivers, we found significant differences in species composition. Nearly 14 percent of the species were significantly associated with one or the other river type. Most floodplain forest specialists occurred predominantly in whitewater rivers, whereas species that are typically associated with white-sand habitats occurred in blackwater. Despite significant distinctions between river types, occurrence patterns and levels of habitat association differed among indicator species and may vary in the same species throughout its global distribution. There were also "intermediate" avifauna in some of our sites, suggesting that continuous parameters characterizing river types structure species turnover. The water color-based classification of Amazonian rivers represents a simple and powerful predictor of the floodplain forest avifauna, offering a stimulating starting point for understanding patterns of floodplain bird distributions and for prioritizing conservation efforts in these overlooked habitats.Abstract in Portuguese is available with online material. K E Y

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“…We included both the species occurring in one habitat type (forest or savanna) and the species that are more flexible, that is, those occurring in both habitats. We also considered the nomenclature updates and corrections of species records from the inventories evaluated by Lees et al (2015).…”

Section: Species Occurrence Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of biogeographic history on the functional and phylogenetic diversity of passerine birds in savannas and forests of the Brazilian Amazon

Almeida

Juen

Sobral

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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Passeriformes is the largest and most diverse avian order in the world and comprises the Passeri and Tyranni suborders. These suborders constitute a monophyletic group, but differ in their ecology and history of occupation of South America. We investigated the influence of biogeographic history on functional and phylogenetic diversities of Passeri and Tyranni in forest and savanna habitats in the Brazilian Amazon. We compiled species composition data for 34 Passeriformes assemblages, 12 in savannas and 22 in forests. We calculated the functional (Rao's quadratic entropy, FDQ) and phylogenetic diversities (mean pairwise distance, MPD, and mean nearest taxon distance, MNTD), and the functional beta diversity to investigate the potential role of biogeographic history in shaping ecological traits and species lineages of both suborders. The functional diversity of Passeri was higher than for Tyranni in both habitats. The MPD for Tyranni was higher than for Passeri in forests; however, there was no difference between the suborders in savannas. In savannas, Passeri presented higher MNTD than Tyranni, while in forest areas, Tyranni assemblages showed higher MNTD than Passeri. We found a high functional turnover (~75%) between Passeri and Tyranni in both habitats. The high functional diversity of Passeri in both habitats is due to the high diversity of ecological traits exhibited by species of this group, which enables the exploitation of a wide variety of resources and foraging strategies. The higher Tyranni MPD and MNTD in forests is likely due to Tyranni being older settlers in this habitat, resulting in the emergence and persistence of more lineages. The higher Passeri MNTD in savannas can be explained by the existence of a larger number of different Passeri lineages adapted to this severe habitat. The high functional turnover between the suborders in both habitats suggests an ecological strategy to avoid niche overlap.

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Conducting rigorous avian inventories: Amazonian case studies and a roadmap for improvement

Cited by 35 publications

References 24 publications

Exposing hidden endemism in a Neotropical forest raptor using citizen science

Exposing hidden endemism in a Neotropical forest raptor using citizen science

Using river color to predict Amazonian floodplain forest avifaunas in the world's largest blackwater river basin

The influence of biogeographic history on the functional and phylogenetic diversity of passerine birds in savannas and forests of the Brazilian Amazon

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