Patterns in island endemic forest-dependent bird research: the Caribbean as a case-study

Abstract

Unequal patterns in research effort can result in inaccurate assessments of species extinction risk or ineffective management. A group of notable conservation concern are tropical island endemic birds, many of which are also forest-dependent, which increases their vulnerability to extinction. Yet, island bird species have received limited research attention compared to their continental congeners, despite this taxon being globally regarded as well-studied. We used the insular Caribbean, a globally important endemism hotspot with high rates of deforestation, to explore research bias of island and regional endemic forest-dependent birds. A review of the published literature (n = 992) found no significant increase in the number of studies over the search period. Research effort was significantly higher among species with threatened status, long generation time, wide habitat breadth and low to intermediate elevational distributions. Among family groups, the Psittacidae received the highest research effort, while the Cuculidae were the most underrepresented family (30-fold higher and six-fold less than expected, respectively). We found geographic biases in effort, with Jamaica having six-fold less and Puerto Rico eight times more research than expected for their level of endemism. These patterns likely reflect individual interests and limited capacity and funding, typical of Small Island Developing States. With over 50% of species in this review having declining population trends, we recommend prioritizing research that emphasises conservation-and management-relevant data across underrepresented families and islands, by fostering greater collaboration between researchers, practitioners and the existing local amateur ornithological community.

Biogeography of the West Indies: A complex scenario for species radiations in terrestrial and aquatic habitats

“…Habitat loss has been also reported as one of the major causes of species decline and extinction in amphibians (Hedges, 1993;Hedges et al, 2018), reptiles (Hedges et al, 2018), and birds (Devenish-Nelson et al, 2019).…”

“…Certainly, the effect of habitat destruction has been a key factor in the extinction of Caribbean terrestrial vertebrates and particularly endemic and specialized mammals (i.e., cave‐dwelling bats species) that are either threatened or already extinct (Brooks et al., 2002; Morgan, 2001; Woods, 1989). Habitat loss has been also reported as one of the major causes of species decline and extinction in amphibians (Hedges, 1993; Hedges et al., 2018), reptiles (Hedges et al., 2018), and birds (Devenish‐Nelson et al., 2019).…”

Variation in song structure of house wrens living in urban and rural areas in a Caribbean small island developing state

“…Avian conservation has been studied more than any other taxon, but still suffers from biases that result in important knowledge gaps (BirdLife International 2018, Devenish-Nelson et al 2019, Moussy et al 2021. In particular, although there have been improvements over the past decades, socio-economic and demographic biases in research remain (Freile et al 2014, Devenish-Nelson et al 2019, Moussy et al 2021.…”

“…Avian conservation has been studied more than any other taxon, but still suffers from biases that result in important knowledge gaps (BirdLife International 2018, Devenish-Nelson et al 2019, Moussy et al 2021. In particular, although there have been improvements over the past decades, socio-economic and demographic biases in research remain (Freile et al 2014, Devenish-Nelson et al 2019, Moussy et al 2021. The abundance of research conducted and published in and about high-income countries of the Global North is in strong contrast with the scarce literature available from low-income countries of the Global South (Ducatez and Lefebvre 2014, Marzluff 2016, Moussy et al 2021.…”

“…Neotropical research has tended to focus on just three countries since the 1970s (Freile et al 2014): in 2011, over 50% of published research on Neotropical bird species was from Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil (Freile et al 2014). A part of the Neotropics, the hotspot of the Caribbean islands is of conservation concern as almost 50% of the vegetation is vulnerable to urban disturbance (Williams 2013, Devenish-Nelson et al 2019. Much of the Caribbean islands are underrepresented in the literature, emphasizing the need for research on urbanization and conservation throughout the region (Williams 2013, Freile et al 2014, Devenish-Nelson et al 2019).…”