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Avian Ecology and Conservation in Tropical Agricultural Landscapes with Emphasis on Vermivora Chrysoptera

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Avian Ecology and Conservation in Tropical Agricultural Landscapes with Emphasis on Vermivora Chrysoptera University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Open Access Dissertations 2-2011 Avian Ecology and Conservation in Tropical Agricultural Landscapes with Emphasis on Vermivora Chrysoptera Richard Brooks Chandler University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/open_access_dissertations Part of the Aquaculture and Fisheries Commons, and the Other Animal Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Chandler, Richard Brooks, "Avian Ecology and Conservation in Tropical Agricultural Landscapes with Emphasis on Vermivora Chrysoptera" (2011). Open Access Dissertations. 333. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/open_access_dissertations/333 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Access Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. AVIAN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION IN TROPICAL AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPES WITH EMPHASIS ON VERMIVORA CHRYSOPTERA A Dissertation Presented by RICHARD B. CHANDLER Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY February 2011 Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation © Copyright by Richard Brooks Chandler 2011 All Rights Reserved AVIAN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION IN TROPICAL AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPES WITH EMPHASIS ON VERMIVORA CHRYSOPTERA A Dissertation Presented by RICHARD B. CHANDLER Approved as to style and content by: __________________________________________ David I. King, Chair __________________________________________ Curtice R. Griffin, Member __________________________________________ Peter W. Houlihan, Member __________________________________________ John H. Rappole, Member __________________________________________ Paul R. Fisette, Department Head Environmental Conservation DEDICATION To Carly for your steadfast love throughout these years. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My deepest gratitude goes to my advisor David King for his guidance and friendship. This research greatly expanded my knowledge of tropical ecology and conservation, and my time spent in Costa Rica has been one of the great joys of my life. None of these experiences would have been possible had he not given me this opportunity. The farmers we worked with in Costa Rica showed a degree of openness, curiosity, and acceptance that I previously would not have believed possible. More Costa Ricans provided support and land access than I can list here; however, several were especially generous: Antonio Marin, Edwin Cruz, Luis Ureña, Federico Miranda, Ricardo Solano, Ramón Cruz, Hugo Fonseca, Jesus Ramirez, William Cubrero, Juvenal Villegas, Martin Zunega, Alexander Trejos, Manuel Trejos, Oscar Jiménez, Luis Garcia, Jose Maria Salas, Carlos Moya, Nemesio, Luis Angel, Eduardo Villegas, Hormidas Camacho, and Rogelio Villalobos. The Marin, Zeledon, and Jimenez families made us feel especially welcome while living in Cedral. Carlos Orlando Delgado and Marcos Gonzalez Rojas were instrumental in the success of the project. Special thanks also go to Cooperativa Montes de Oro, whose members assisted with site selection, lodging, and transportation in the early phases of the project. Victor Julio Arce Chavez lent his expertise as an agronomist throughout the course of the study. He gave us free access to lodging in his home and at the Cooperative’s facilities. He also acted as our first tour guide of the area along with Santos Muñez and Luis Carlos. Arley Morales graciously helped us navigate the nuances of working in a foreign country. His v help with banking, car repair, car inspections, taxes, and accommodations saved us countless hours of work. More importantly, his friendship made the research more enjoyable. Seth Beaudreault, Johel Aguero, Jared Wolfe, Nicole Hazlet, Adam Anderson, Jeff Wells, and Jeff Ritterson were all excellent field assistants whose efforts made this work possible. Seth’s help over the course of four field seasons was particularly. Michelle Labbe and Ryan Jones also provided valuable help in the field during their visits. Funding for this project came from a Neotropical Migratory Bird Act grant and from the USDA Forest Service International Programs. Carol Lively, the migratory bird program coordinator at International Programs, was especially helpful in guiding our fund raising efforts. She also provided valuable suggestions for disseminating our results and coordinating with local conservation entities. Javier Guevara of the Costa Rican National System of Protected Areas (SINAC) provided permits. No one worked harder in the field than my wife Carly Chandler, even when she was three months pregnant, and her help with the study design and implementation were invaluable. Finally, I want to thank my son Orrin for enjoying the adventure as much as we did. vi ABSTRACT AVIAN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION IN TROPICAL AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPES WITH EMPHASIS ON VERMIVORA CHRYSOPTERA FEBRUARY 2011 RICHARD B. CHANDLER, B.S., UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT M.S., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Dr. David I. King The world’s biodiversity is concentrated in tropical ecosystems, yet tropical forests are being converted for agriculture at a rapid rate. I evaluated the potential of an alternative coffee production system known as Integrated Open Canopy (IOC) to contribute to avian conservation. This study was conducted from 2005-2010 in the Cordillera de Tilarán, Costa Rica. My results indicate that species richness of forest- dependent birds was significantly higher in IOC farms than in shade coffee farms, and was comparable to secondary forest sites. There was no difference in species richness of Neotropical-Nearctic migrants between IOC and shade coffee farms. Overall similarity was higher between IOC farms and primary forest than between shade coffee farms and primary forest. The golden-winged warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera) is a declining Neotropical- Nearctic migrant bird, yet little is known about its non-breeding season ecology and demographics. I found that golden-winged warbler abundance was highest at intermediate precipitation levels found at middle elevations (1000-1200 m) of the Pacific slope, but they were absent from the dry forests at lower elevations on the Pacific slope. vii Abundance peaked in forests with canopy heights of 22 m, and was positively related to the quantity of hanging dead leaves. Radio-telemetry data indicated that golden-winged warblers used microhabitat features characteristic of disturbance more frequently than expected by chance. Selection of these microhabitat features was related to their highly specialized dead-leaf foraging behavior, which may also have contributed to their high degrees of site fidelity, mixed-species flock attendance, and territoriality. These behaviors have important conservation implications because they constrain density, and thus could affect carrying capacity. Population dynamics were characterized by estimating plot-level and individual-level apparent survival and recruitment rates within and among non-breeding seasons. Both levels of analysis suggested that recruitment was too low to offset mortalities within this study area. This study indicates that increasing forest cover in tropical agricultural landscapes may be the most effective way of providing habitat for bird species of high conservation concern, including the golden-winged warbler. Integrated open canopy coffee production is one option for achieving this goal because it provides a financial incentive to protect or restore forest. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................................v ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ xii LIST OF FIGURES ...........................................................................................................xv CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................1 1.1 Background ........................................................................................................1 1.2 Study area...........................................................................................................3 1.2.1 Geography and administrative boundaries......................................... 3 1.2.2 Climate ............................................................................................... 4 1.2.3 Geology and soils ............................................................................... 5 1.2.4 Vegetation and life zones ................................................................... 6 1.2.5 Habitat classification .......................................................................... 7 1.2.6 Human demography and settlement ................................................... 8 1.2.7 Biological diversity ............................................................................ 9 2. BIRD SPECIES RICHNESS AND COMPOSITION IN A LAND- SPARING COFFEE PRODUCTION SYSTEM ...................................................17 2.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................17
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