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Land use changes and bird diversity in subtropical forests: urban development as the underlying factor

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Abstract

The Serrano Chaco forest is the least extended Gran Chaco forest type with a long history of human disturbances, such as ranching, urbanization, fires, an exotic tree species expansion, which have altered natural vegetation and, therefore, the resources available for avifauna. However, the impact of these disturbances on Serrano forest birds has received little attention. Here, using functional and taxonomic approaches, we explored the environmental, topographical and anthropogenic factors determining bird community structure in the Serrano forests at different spatial scales (< 250 m 500- and 1000-m). We used a combination of satellite imagery-based data and field sampling. We identified three ecological groups of birds: forest specialist, understory specialist and generalists, and classified them into functional groups according to life history traits and habitat use. We found that the response to landscape structure varied with the spatial scale and bird group; however, urban development and exotic trees forest occurrence were consistently present among the main factors reducing functional and taxonomic diversity of forest and understory birds. At the 1000-m scales, forest specialist birds tended to disappear from the areas with dense urbanization in areas with low percentage of Serrano forest. In landscape dominated by L. lucidum, forest understory birds tended to disappear. In all cases, generalist species expanded towards those areas. Our results indicate that the functional roles of avifauna are being greatly modified, potentially affecting forest ecosystem functioning. Restoration strategies must be implemented to preserve the last remnants of Serrano forest.

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Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to field assistants for their help with fieldwork and to M. Gonzalez for helping us in programming and figures design. This research was supported by CONICET (PIP-2021, #11220200101287 2021) and FONCyT (PICT 2020 #1329). This study is part of the research of L.E.S. as a doctoral fellow at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET). L.M.B. is a researcher at CONICET and professor at the Universidad Nacional de Cordoba. G.G.P is a researcher at CONICET and INTA; L.M.S. is a researcher at (CIRN-INTA) and J.R.A. has a doctoral fellowship at CONICET.

Funding

This work was supported by CONICET, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (PIP-2021, #11220200101287 2021) and FONCyT (PICT 2020 #1329). This study is part of the research of L.E.S. as a doctoral fellow at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Altos Estudios Espaciales “Mario Gulich” (CONAE-UNC), Ruta Provincial C45, km 8, Falda del Cañete, CP: 5187, Cañete, Argentina

    Luna Emilce Silvetti, Julieta Rocio Arcamone & Laura Marisa Bellis

  2. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CONICET), Buenos, Argentina

    Luna Emilce Silvetti, Gregorio Gavier Pizarro, Julieta Rocio Arcamone & Laura Marisa Bellis

  3. Instituto de Fisiología y Recursos Genéticos Vegetales (IFRGV) – CIAP – INTA, Córdoba, Argentina

    Gregorio Gavier Pizarro

  4. Instituto de Recursos Biológicos (CIRN-INTA), Buenos, Argentina

    Laura Maria Solari

  5. Cátedra de Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina

    Laura Marisa Bellis

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  1. Luna Emilce Silvetti
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  2. Gregorio Gavier Pizarro
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  3. Laura Maria Solari
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  4. Julieta Rocio Arcamone
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Contributions

L.E. Silvetti, writing of original draft, Data collection and curation, formal analysis. G. Gavier-Pizarro, conceptualization, data analysis guide, writing revision and editing. L.M. Solari, bird functional diversity analysis support. J.R. Arcamone, landcover change analysis support and L.M. Bellis conceptualization, texture analysis guide, writing revision and editing.

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Correspondence to Luna Emilce Silvetti or Laura Marisa Bellis.

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CommunicatedBy David Hawksworth.

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Silvetti, L.E., Gavier Pizarro, G., Solari, L.M. et al. Land use changes and bird diversity in subtropical forests: urban development as the underlying factor. Biodivers Conserv 32, 385–403 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-022-02533-3

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