Aves da Estação Ecológica de Santa Bárbara, um dos últimos remanescentes de Cerrado aberto em São Paulo, Brasil
Resumo
In the state of São Paulo, southeastern Brazil, the phytophysiognomy known as Cerrado
takes less than 1% of its original cover. The establishment and management of protected
areas are essential to save a significant sample of biodiversity of this environment in the
region. The Santa Bárbara Ecological Station is one of the largest protected areas in the
state, and one of the few ones to cover a mosaic with most of the vegetation types of
Cerrado sensu lato, ensuring greater resources to the local avifauna. However, the set of
historical factors, biological invasions, and fire protection in this reserve have led to
habitat loss in the local cerrado, which are followed by vegetation densification and
changing in native flora, with risks to the avian grassland species. This thesis aims (1) to
increase the knowledge of avifauna in the reserve, showing the importance of the area
for bird conservation in São Paulo; (2) to evaluate the association of species to the
reserve physiognomies;(3) to list the changes in the bird assemblages in the course of 40
years, since Edwin Willis and Yoshika Oniki’s surveys in 1976, including its possible
causes, and (4) to investigate if and how the local bird assemblages respond to habitat
changes caused by plant invasions. We carried out surveys from February 2012 to
March 2015, which resulted in the record of 195 species, or 238 when in regard to
Willis and Oniki’s works (1981, 1993, 2003) and the local Management Plan. Twentytwo
species are regionally threatened, and five globally threatened. Despite showing
lower species richness, grasslands stood out because of the number of species of
conservation concern. The invasion of alien plants, such as Signal grass (Urochloa
spp.), in open Cerrado seems to contribute to these threats, since few species of
conservation concern were seen in invaded areas, and their occurrences concentrated in
conserved cerrado. The control invasions and fire management which prevents the
densification of woody vegetation in open habitats seem to be the most important
practices for the maintenance of bird assemblages in the Ecological Station of Santa
Barbara, one of the last open Cerrado remnants in São Paulo.