SPECIESRICHNESS,DENSITIES,HABITATRELATIONSHIPS, ANDCONSERVATIONOFTHEAVIANCOMMUNITYOFTHE HIGHALTITUDEFORESTSOFTOTONICAPÁN,GUATEMALA Submittedby KatherineArdenCleary PeaceCorpsMastersInternational DepartmentofFish,Wildlife,andConservationBiology Inpartialfulfillmentoftherequirements FortheDegreeofMasterofScience ColoradoStateUniversity FortCollins,Colorado Spring2010 COLORADOSTATEUNIVERSITY April25,2010 WE HEREBY RECOMMEND THAT THE THESIS PREPARED UNDER OUR SUPERVISION BY KATHERINE ARDEN CLEARY ENTITLED COMPOSITION, DISTRIBUTION, AND CONSERVATION OF THE AVIAN COMMUNITY OF THE HIGH ALTITUDE CONIFEROUS FORESTS OF TOTONICAPAN, GUATEMALABEACCEPTEDASFULFULLINGINPARTTHEREQUIREMENTSFORTHEDEGREEOF MASTEROFSCIENCE. CommitteeonGraduateWork GeorgeWallace WilliamAndelt Advisor:BarryR.Noon DepartmentHead:KennethWilson ABSTRACTOFTHESIS The Northern Central American Highlands, which include the mountains of Chiapas, Guatemala,ElSalvador,andHonduras,arearecognizedendemicbirdarea(Stattersfieldetal. 1998) as well as a biodiversity “hotspot” (Myers et al. 2000). The coniferous forests of the regional park “Los Altos de San Miguel Totonicapán” lie within this region. Despite the importanceofthisareaforglobalavianbiodiversity,littleresearchhasbeenconductedinLos Altos,inpartbecausethelocalMayanauthoritieswhomanagetheforestprohibitentryofall outsiders.AspartofmyPeaceCorpsMastersInternationalwork,Ilivedfor2½yearsinthe town of Totonicapán and gained entry to the forests of Los Altos. I worked with local community agencies to design a research project that provides both valuable baseline information on avian community composition, distribution, and abundance, and also a set of environmental education materials and income generation opportunities to help local communities achieve bird conservation. During the rainy and dry seasons in 20082009, we usedstandarddistancesamplingmethodstoconductpointcountsat34locationsintheforest. Toexplorepatternsofbirdhabitatuse,wemeasured13vegetationcovariatesateachpoint. Communitylevel analyses with program COMDYN indicated a high level of species richness whichdidnotfluctuatebetweenseasons,andcanonicalcorrelationanalysisatthecommunity level revealed that average diameter at breast height of trees and understory density were relativelystrongpredictorsofbirdcommunitycomposition.Specieslevelanalysisofselected speciesrevealedinterestingpatternsofdetectionprobabilitiesanddensitiesvaryingbetween seasons. Finally, specieshabitat relationships were explored using an AIC framework and a modelaveraging approach to determine the relative importance of vegetation covariates in predictingpointleveldensityofselectedspecies.Resultsfromthisstudyrevealthepreviously unknown composition, distribution, and habitat use patterns of the avian community, and providethe Totonicapán ForestryOffice,CONAP(Guatemalan NationalParkService),andthe localMayaK’iche’authoritieswiththefirstbaselineinformationonavianecologyintheforests ofLosAltos. KatherineArdenCleary PeaceCorpsMastersInternational DepartmentofFish,Wildlife,andConservationBiology ColoradoStateUniversity FortCollins,CO80523 Spring2010 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ThefirstpersonIwouldliketothankismyadvisor,Dr.BarryNoon.WhenIfirstcame knockingonhisdoorin2004,Iwasanovicetothefieldofecology,armedonlywithenthusiasm andcuriosity.Manyadvisorswouldnothaveacceptedastudentwithnofieldexperienceand nofunding,andwhowantedtocompleteaMastersthroughanunconventionalprogramwhich involvedlivinginGuatemalafortwoyearsinthemiddleofherMasters.Barrywaswillingto givemeachance,andIamforevergratefultohimforthat.Overtheyears,hehasbeena wonderfulmentor,providingguidance,friendship,careeradvice,andofcourse,margaritas.He isandalwayswillbeanimportantrolemodelinmylife. Theothermembersofmygraduatecommitteealsocontributedtomyeducation,and wereunfailinglypatientwiththechallengesofthePeaceCorpsMasters.Dr.BillAndeltoffered adviceandsupportduringmyfirsttwoyearsatCSU,andreassuredmemanytimesthatIwould beabletocarryoutaresearchprojectwhileinthePeaceCorps.Dr.GeorgeWallacegaveme muchhelpfuladviceandrecommendationsbasedonhissubstantialexperienceworkinginLatin America,andwassupportiveduringmyreadjustmenttolifeintheU.S.Hismorethan40years oftireless,creative,effectiveconservationworkinLatinAmericaareaninspiration,andIhopeI canmakeasimilarcontributiontoconservationinthecourseofmycareer. Thisworkwasonlypossiblebecauseoftheunflaggingsupportofmyfamilyandfriends. Myparentsinstilledinmeastrongworkethicandencouragedmetosetmysightshigh,and throughoutmylifehavebeenmymostloyalfans;eachachievementIhave,nomatterhow small,ismetwithhappinessandpride.Iwanttoespeciallythankmyparentsandmytwo brothersforcomingtovisitmeduringmytimeinGuatemala. ThankstotheothergraduatestudentsinFWCB,especiallythecohortwhobeganwith mein2005.MytimeatCSUwouldnothavebeenthesamewithouttheiradvice,guidance, camaraderie,andfriendship,andmytimeinGuatemalawouldnothavebeenthesamewithout theirloyalemails,letters,cards,andupdatesfromtheFort.ThankstomyNoonLabcolleagues, especiallyBrettDickson,JeffTracey,RickScherer,andPranavChanchani,whohelpedmewith manyastatisticaldilemmaovertheyears,andwithwhomIsharedmanyalaughduringlate nightsinthelab.AndthankstoJulioCarby,forhisconstantloveandsupportduringtheupsand downsofmytimeingraduateschool. Lastbutcertainlynotleast,IthankallofthepeopleinGuatemalawhoIhadthe pleasureofknowingduringmytimeinthePeaceCorps.Inparticular,thefamiliesTzaquitzal Tax,TzocTax,andVelasquezopenedtheirheartsandhomestome,andsharedtheirtable,their stories,andtheirvisionofGuatemala.Withouttheirfriendship,Iwouldnothavehadthe strengthtocarryoutanyofmyprojectsinGuatemala.Thanksaswelltomycolleaguesand friendsatElAprisco,andtothePeaceCorpsGuatemalastaffwhosupportedmywork,especially FlavioLinaresandPattyRossell.Finally,IthanktheMayaK’ichéMayorsCouncilfordaringto trustme,andforcaringmoreaboutthefutureoftheirforeststhanaboutthepastofour nations. TABLEOFCONTENTS ABSTRACTOFTHESIS.......................................................................................................................v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..................................................................................................................vii TABLEOFCONTENTS.......................................................................................................................x INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................1 LITERATURECITED...........................................................................................................................6 CHAPTER1:SPECIESRICHNESSANDHABITATUSEPATTERNSOFTHEBIRDCOMMUNITY............8 INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................................8 STUDYAREA............................................................................................................................13 METHODS................................................................................................................................14 RESULTS...................................................................................................................................21 DISCUSSION.............................................................................................................................23 LITERATURECITED...................................................................................................................30 CHAPTER2:ESTIMATESOFDETECTIONPROBABILITIES,DENSITIES,ANDHABITATUSE PATTERNSOFSELECTEDSPECIES...................................................................................................35 INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................35 STUDYAREA............................................................................................................................38 METHODS................................................................................................................................39 RESULTS...................................................................................................................................49 DISCUSSION.............................................................................................................................53 LITERATURECITED...................................................................................................................63 CHAPTER3:CONSERVATIONOFTHEBIRDCOMMUNITYOFLOSALTOSINACOMMUNAL MANAGEMENTCONTEXT:CHALLENGESANDSOLUTIONS...........................................................66 INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................66 GOVERNANCEOFLOSALTOS..................................................................................................67 CONSERVATIONCHALLENGES.................................................................................................68 CONSERVATIONSOLUTIONS...................................................................................................73 FUTUREDIRECTIONS...............................................................................................................81 LITERATURECITED...................................................................................................................83 TABLES...........................................................................................................................................85