Birds of an Amazonia-Cerrado Ecotone in Southern Pará, Brazil

Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia, 19(2), 260-275 ARTIGO Junho de 2011 Birds of an Amazonia- Cerrado ecotone in southern Pará, Brazil, and the efficiency of associating multiple methods in avifaunal inventories Marina Somenzari 1,2,3, Luís Fábio Silveira2, Vitor de Queiroz Piacentini 1,2, Marco Antonio Rego 1,2, Fábio Schunck2 and Vagner Cavarzere 1,2 ¹ Pós-Graduação (Zoologia), Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo. ² Seção de Aves, Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo. Avenida Nazaré, 481, 04263000, São Paulo, SP, Brasil. ³ Corresponding author. Email: [email protected] Recebido em 02/03/2011. Aceito em 28/05/2011. RESUMO: Avifauna de um ecótono Amazônia-Cerrado no sul do Pará, Brasil, e a eficiência do uso associado de múltiplas metodologias em inventários ornitológicos. A região sudeste do Pará é ainda muito pouco conhecida e apenas recentemente passou a contar com alguns inventários representativos. Apresentamos aqui o resultado do levantamento de aves da Fazenda Fartura, na divisa dos Estados do Pará e Mato Grosso, caracterizada pela transição entre os biomas Amazônia e Cerrado. A área foi inventariada em quatro viagens de campo (duas na estação seca, duas na chuvosa) entre 2009 e 2010, totalizando 509 espécies de aves registradas, a maioria das quais documentada por vouchers. Adicionalmente, outras sete espécies foram computadas através de registros secundários, o que faz desta localidade a segunda em número de espécies no Brasil. Discutimos brevemente também a importância da associação de diversos métodos de amostragem para a eficiência de inventários de curto prazo. PALAVRAS'CHAVE: Ecótono Amazônia-Cerrado; Inventário; Associação de Metodologias. ABSTRACT: Birds of an Amazonia- Cerrado ecotone in southern Pará, Brazil, and the efficiency of associating multiple methods in avifaunal inventories. The southeastern Pará remains little known, and has only recently been covered by a few representative surveys of its avifauna. Herein, we present the results of a bird survey in Fazenda Fartura (Fartura Farm), located on the border between the states of Pará and Mato Grosso, in the transition of the Amazonia and Cerrado biomes. The area was sampled in four field trips (two in the dry season, two in the rainy season) between 2009 and 2010. As a result, we recorded 509 species, most of them documented through vouchers. Seven additional species were recorded by indirect evidence, rendering Fartura Farm the second most diverse Brazilian locality regarding bird species. We also briefly discuss the importance of applying diverse sampling methods to achieve efficiency in short-term inventories. KEY'WORDS: Amazonia-Cerrado Ecotone; Inventory; Methods. Amazonia is characterized as being a heteroge- extensive checklist of species renders Carajás the gratest neous region, with the most diverse avifauna on the local bird richness known to date in Brazil. planet (Stotz et al. 1996). Its largest rivers usually delimit Southeasternmost Pará may be considered to belong biogeographical regions or distinct areas of endemism to the poorly delineated “Campo Cerrado Center” of en- (Haffer 1974, Cracraft 1985, Silva et al. 2005). Despite demism, defined as an enormous area of open and savan- these areas being well delimited, the role of these rivers nastic formations limited to the north and west by the as causal agents (or merely maintainers of this diversity) Amazonia Forest, to the east by Caatinga, to the south by depends on more detailed and multi-taxonomic studies. the Atlantic Forest, and also by Chaco to the southwest Estimates on Amazonian bird diversity are clearly con- (Cracraft 1985). However, the surrounding areas also servative, and there is a considerable degree of taxonomic deserve consideration; specifically the adjacent “Xingu uncertainty regarding many of the bird species ocurring Center” ( sensu Silva et al. 2005) or, more broadly defined, in the biome. the “Pará Center” ( sensu Cracraft 1985), both limited to The southeastern region of Pará is still little known the east by the Tocantins River and extending southward from the ornithological point of view. Most inventory ef- to the limits of the Amazonia Forest. These two centers forts therein are concentrated in the Carajás area, where of endemism (Xingu/Pará and Campo Cerrado) are in- long-term studies that began in the 1980s have registered teresting due to the presence of subspecies such as the up to 575 bird species (Pacheco et al. 2006); such an Opal-crowned Manakin ( Lepidothrix iris eucephala ), the Birds of an Amazonia- Cerrado ecotone in southern Pará, Brazil, and the efficiency of associating multiple methods in avifaunal inventories 261 Marina Somenzari, Luís Fábio Silveira, Vitor de Queiroz Piacentini, Marco Antonio Rego, Fábio Schunck and Vagner Cavarzere Pearly Parakeet ( Pyrrhura [ lepida] anerythra), and the Fieldwork began around 5:00 in the morning and Cinnamon-throated Hermit ( Phaethornis nattereri/mara- extended until 20:00 in order to survey nocturnal birds. nhaoensis; Cracraft 1985) which, amongst others, should Mist-nets were opened at 6:00 in the morning and closed have their taxonomic status reevaluated. Furthermore, the at 12:00, the afternoon period being set aside for sam- geographic limits of the Xigu/Pará and Campo Cerrado pling by unlimited-radius linear transects. In each expe- centers of endemism depend on a more precise defini- dition, 40 nets were used (12 × 2.40 m, 30 mm mesh), tion, especially in light of the distributional patterns of divided in two sets of 20, and aligned along two transects the species occurring within its boundaries and composi- with a distance of at least 3 km between them. The nets of tion of the bird community in their region of contact. each set were opened simultaneously, in three consecutive The complex ecotonal region of Amazonia and Cer- days. Through this method, 21 areas were sampled, for a rado in southeastern Pará and northeastern Mato Grosso total of 5,760 net-hours. Records attained while moving is still little explored. Only one locality along the right between sampled localities were also considered. bank of the Araguaia River in the state of Tocantins has The vegetal formations listed below were sampled been studied in a more systematic way (Pinheiro and proportionaly to their presence in the farm: Dornas, 2009). Herein, we present the results of an ornithological inventory performed throughout two con- — Terra-Firme Forest: the predominant forestal for- secutive years at a locality situated in the ecotonal region mation (moist broadleaf forest) in the entire farm between Amazonia and the Cerrado in southeastern Pará, region, found in varying degrees of conservation; discussing the importance of applying diverse sampling sampled in all expeditions. methods to short-term avifaunal inventories. — Várzea Forest: seasonally flooded forests found at the margins of the Araguaia and Santana Rivers; sampled rammdmly in the rainy and dry seasons. MATERIAL AND METHODS — Flooded grasslands (“ varjão ”): seasonally inundated grasslands; due to difficulty of access, these forma- The study was conducted at Fazenda Fartura tions were sampled only during the dry seasons. (09°40’S, 50°23’W), with headquarters in the munici- — Pastures: pasture areas destined for cattle-raising and pality of Santana do Araguaia, state of Pará. Its south- mainly composed of exotic grasses; not systemati- ernmost portion lies in the state of Mato Grosso and is cally sampled. limited to the east by the Araguaia River (Figure 1). This — Transitional environments and water bodies: eco- farm holds an area of 53,078 ha, of which 35,108 ha are tonal regions of the Amazonia and Cerrado biomes, preserved areas including forest, Cerrado and seasonally and natural ponds, small dams and creeks; not sys- flooded environments. The remaining 17,970 ha consist tematically sampled. of pastures. We undertook four expeditions in the study area: Complementary to our fieldwork, we also used a list two in rainy seasons (17-27 January 2009 and 07 -21 Feb- of species collected in the area by the staff of Museu Para- ruary 2010), and two in dry seasons (29 August to 13 ense Emílio Goeldi in 1992 (MPEG, unpublished data). September 2009, and 30 August to 12 September 2010), The taxonomic sequence follows CBRO (2011). comprising 47 effective sampling days. Since collection methods vary with respect to efficiency and specificity, combination of distinct methods RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ensure comprehensiveness of sampling. Therefore, our inventory relied on the simultaneous application of four During the 47 fieldwork days we recorded 509 spe- methods: direct observations with the aid of binoculars, cies of birds belonging to 23 Orders and 71 Families. recognition of vocalizations, capture with mist-nets, and Among these, 381 were documented by photographs collection with shotguns. The records were documented and/or audio recordings, with 351 out of these having whenever possible by means of recording vocalizations, voucher specimens deposited in the MZUSP collections. photographs, and the collection of voucher specimens. This number rises to 516 (Appendix) when secondary The equipment used in documenting vocalizations data is also considered, including four species collected consisted of the following recorders: Marantz PMD, exclusively by the team of MPEG, along with three spe- Sony PCMD50, Sony PCMM10, Marantz PMD660, cies recorded by Gerard Baudet and Wilson L. M. Neto. and Sennheiser ME66 microphones. Collected speci- The

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