The presence of COVID-19 face masks in the largest hypersaline lagoon of South America is predicted by urbanization level

Community and species-specific responses of coastal birds to COVID-19 “anthropause” in the largest hypersaline lagoon of South America

“…Indeed, the community is dominated by synanthropic species, such as the Neotropic Cormorant, Nannopterum brasilianus (Gmelin, 1789), the Southern Lapwing, (Molina, 1782), and the Kelp Gull, Larus dominicanus Lichtenstein, 1823 (Ariyama et al, 2019;Je, 2020); together they represented 82% of the total community abundance. This is strong evidence that such species cannot be used as condition indicator species, since they are occurring on urban beaches in the Araruama Lagoon that are typically polluted and overcrowded, mainly during the high tourist season (Costa et al, 2023). Further studies with higher sampling periodicity are necessary to determine if migratory shorebirds, which were absent in our sampling, present a more consistent response to human disturbances during their staying period in Brazil.…”

“…Gaining insights into species' responses to human influence is pivotal, especially for coastal birds, known for their susceptibility to human presence in coastal areas (Møller et al, 2015;Lewis et al, 2022b). Little is known about human activity's impact on coastal lagoons, especially extreme environments like the largest hypersaline coastal lagoon in South America (Costa et al, 2023). Currently, no research has compared coastal bird community patterns in such lagoons during the global lockdown ("anthropause") and the subsequent "new normal" period, thus, effects like these and their implications for populations are being widely studied to fill this gap (Sol et al, 2018).…”