Aves da Estação Ecológica de Santa Bárbara, um dos últimos remanescentes de Cerrado aberto em São Paulo, Brasil

Abstract

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.