Neotropical Ornithology: Reckoning with historical assumptions, removing systemic barriers, and reimagining the future

Abstract

A major barrier to advancing ornithology is the systemic exclusion of professionals from the Global South. A recent special dossier, Advances in Neotropical Ornithology, and a shortfalls analysis therein, unintentionally followed a long-standing pattern of highlighting individuals, knowledge, and views from the Global North, while largely omitting the perspectives of people based within the Neotropics. Here, we review problems with assessing the state of Neotropical ornithology through a northern lens, including discovery narratives, incomplete (and biased) understanding of history and advances, and the promotion of agendas that, while currently popular in the north, may not fit the needs and realities of Neotropical research. We argue that future advances in Neotropical ornithology will critically depend on identifying and addressing the systemic barriers that hold back ornithologists who live and work in the Neotropics: unreliable and limited funding, exclusion from international research leadership, restricted dissemination of knowledge (e.g., through language hegemony and citation bias), and logistical barriers. Moving forward, we must examine and acknowledge the colonial roots of our discipline, and explicitly promote anticolonial research, training, and conservation agendas. We invite our colleagues within and beyond the Neotropics to join us in creating a new model of governance that establishes research priorities with vigorous partici-pation of ornithologists and other stakeholders within the Neotropical region. To include a diversity of perspectives, we must systemically address discrimination and bias rooted in the socioeconomic class system, anti-Blackness, anti-Brownness, anti-Indigeneity, misogyny, homophobia, tokenism, and ableism. Instead of seeking individual excellence and rewarding top-down leadership, institutions in the North and South can promote collective leadership. Authentic collaborations should value the perspectives of those directly involved and affected by policies. In adopting these approaches, we, ornithologists, will join a community of researchers across academia building new paradigms that can reconcile our relationships and transform science.

A classification scheme for mixed-species bird flocks

“…The theoretical knowledge of mixed flocks has its foundations in the natural history of the birds themselves, as expressed by Miller [170, p. 125] a century ago: ‘There are no overseers, yet there are no shirkers; necessity sees to that … No humanly devised Utopia has ever approached this in practicability’. However, in recent years, this important information has been neglected or limited to brief sentences, as natural history itself has fallen out of favour [171], and space limits in most modern journals do not allow for lengthy descriptions. To bridge this gap, we encourage future authors to categorize their study flocks using the names provided in table 2, apply the standardized trait terminology of habitat, behaviour and physical traits (summarized in table 1 and figure 5), and adhere to clear, consistent definitions of species roles (table 4).…”

A set of principles and practical suggestions for equitable fieldwork in biology

“…For example, institutions (e.g., academic vs. governmental) differ in whether they reward researchers for being first or last author, for having many publications rather than a few high-impact ones, or for bringing in infrastructure and funding. General research program goals also may differ depending on institutional interest and limitations ( 37 ). Understanding each parties’ desired outcomes at the outset, and discussing any changes as the project progresses, can help promote equality among all team members.…”

The once-invisible legacy of Elizabeth L. Kerr, a naturalist in the early 20th century, and her contributions to Colombian ornithology

“…We join other female ornithologists, like the team of the Snethlage expedition (Del-Rio et al 2021), in their efforts to recognize, highlight, and elevate the voices and legacies of women that have been systemically kept invisible. We hope that our legacies will not be invisible in the way Kerr's was and that we can promote the building of an equitable and diverse ornithological community following guidelines from recent articles such as Lerman and collaborators' lifecycle approach for mother ornithologists (Lerman et al 2021), Ramírez-Castañeda and collaborators' concrete actions to be collaborative, be respectful, be legal, and be safe when doing fieldwork (Ramírez-Castañeda et al 2022), and Soares and collaborator's guidelines for inclusion and empowerment of Neotropical Ornithologists (Soares et al 2023), to name a few.…”