Ecosystem services provided by Neotropical birds

Abstract

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment described 4 classes of services or functions that ecosystems and their component parts deliver to the benefit of humans: provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural services. Birds, including Neotropical birds, provide a diverse array of services in all 4 classes. We review the literature describing ecosystem services provided by Neotropical birds, draw inference from studies of avian services in other regions when Neotropical studies are limited, and identify key information gaps. Neotropical birds provide provisioning services in the form of meat and eggs for food, and feathers for down and ornamentation. Regulating services are among the most valuable services provided by Neotropical birds, including pollination, pest control, seed dispersal, and scavenging. Neotropical birds also provide supporting services in the form of nutrient cycling, such as through the deposition of guano on offshore islands. Finally, Neotropical birds provide cultural services as pets (caged birds), sources of recreation (e.g., birdwatching, hunting), as well as by inspiring art, photography, and religious customs. Much remains to be learned about the ecology and natural history of many Neotropical birds before we can fully assign value—monetary, nonmaterial, or otherwise—to the services they provide. However, what we have learned to date makes it clear that humans benefit from birds through multiple services, including but not limited to pest reduction, pollination of some agricultural plants, and seed dispersal.

Sensitivity of Tropical Insectivorous Birds to the Anthropocene: A Review of Multiple Mechanisms and Conservation Implications

“…The most straightforward values to understand, and probably best studied, are utilitarian or instrumental, i.e., those important to humans (Figure 2). Of these, ecosystem services are relatively well-studied, including those provided by tropical birds (Michel et al, 2020). Although much remains to be learned about insectivorous birds' ecosystem services, a conspicuous one is regulatory, via pest control.…”

Birds and Bioenergy within the Americas: A Cross-National, Social–Ecological Study of Ecosystem Service Tradeoffs

“…Birds are a component of biodiversity that are relatively easy for people to see, hear, and appreciate [20], and birds are known to provide many ecosystem services in the form of seed dispersal, pest control, scavenging, and pollination [21][22][23][24]. Beyond the material or tangible benefits that birds provide to people, they provide many cultural services as well, which are related to human perception and experience [24]. These types of benefits, which include emotional attachment, spirituality and sense of place, may be just as important to people as the direct economic benefits [25,26].…”

Effects of low-impact logging on understory birds in the Brazilian Amazon

“…Bird species play an important role in ecological processes, such as in pollination, seed dispersion, and seed predation (Whelan et al 2008, Michel et al 2020. The effects of low-impact logging on birds are often less intense than those of other types of disturbances (Barlow et al 2002).…”