Wildfires Jeopardise Habitats of Hyacinth Macaw (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus), a Flagship Species for the Conservation of the Brazilian Pantanal

Ferreira, Bruno Henrique dos Santos; Oliveira, Maxwell da Rosa; Rodrigues, Julia Abrantes; Fontoura, Fernanda Mussi; Guedes, Neiva Maria Robaldo; Szabo, Judit K.; Libonati, Renata; Garcia, L. C.

doi:10.1007/s13157-023-01691-6

Cited by 11 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 79 publications

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“…Survivors of fire events must face changes in vegetation structure and its cascading effects of changed food source availability, nesting opportunities, or exposure to predation (e.g., [56][57][58][59][60][61]), particularly when fire destroys such a vast amount of area. It is speculated that more than half of the bird species occurring in the Pantanal may have had their population affected by fires to some extent [54], and a recent study suggests that the fires substantially reduced suitable habitats for Hyacinth Macaws (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus) [62]. The impact of fires on the local avifauna might be particularly pronounced, as habitat heterogeneity, in addition to seasonal flood pulses, is considered a driving factor for the richness, abundance, and structure of bird communities and trophic guilds in the region [63][64][65][66].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bird Community Traits in Recently Burned and Unburned Parts of the Northeastern Pantanal, Brazil: A Preliminary Approach

Schuchmann,

Burs,

de Deus

et al. 2024

Sustainability

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Although fire is a natural phenomenon in the dynamics of some biomes around the world, it can threaten the biodiversity of certain ecosystems. Climate change and the expansion of anthropogenic activities have drastically increased the occurrence of large-scale burnings worldwide. The 2020 fire events in the Pantanal marked a historically unprecedented record, burning an area of approximately 40,000 km2. However, how fires affect the local wildlife has yet to be evaluated. The aim of this study was to investigate the recovery of the avifauna in the Pantanal of Mato Grosso by comparing data selected from a previous study conducted between 2014 and 2016 with data collected in burned areas nine to twelve months after the fire. We compared diversity and community composition, investigated the influence of species trait foraging guild, foraging strata, and body mass on their response to fire, and complemented it with species’ individual responses. Bird richness and Shannon diversity were lower in burned areas, and the composition significantly varied between burned and unburned areas. The species’ response toward burned and unburned areas was significantly mediated by their traits, with smaller, piscivorous, omnivorous, ground and water, and midstory to canopy species being the most sensitive toward the environmental changes caused by the fire. Thirty-three species showed a negative response toward burned areas, but 46 species showed the opposite response, and 24 species were similarly abundant in unburned and burned areas. The present study is the first evaluation of the response of birds to the extreme fire events in the Pantanal and provides valuable insight into the recovery and resilience of local avifauna.

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