Document Type
Thesis - University Access Only
Award Date
2011
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department / School
Biology and Microbiology
Abstract
I report here the research findings from an investigation of the effects of wildfires on bird communities and populations of four sites in the Brazilian Amazon. The presented data cover a relatively broad-scale, comparing four different regions spaced more than 900 km between sites, and include information about long-term effects of fire on Central Amazonian bird communities and populations. We focused on possible population and individual stress in North and Central Amazonian sites, measured by asymmetry, weight, and abundance of ectoparasites in burned and unburned areas. Our overall findings suggest that wildfires strongly influence bird community structure in some parts of the Amazon (North and Central Amazonia), possibly because these areas are not adapted to fire (Chapter 2). We also found that tropical fires directly influence the abundance of different bird species at all studied Amazonian sites (Chapter 2 and 3). Additionally, we found that wildfire effects in Amazonian forests are persistent, directly influencing the populations of birds that use these habitats even 10 years after a single fire event (Chapter 3). However, we did not observe broad signals of stress on bird condition (or fitness) of populations living in burned compared to unburned sites (Chapter 4). The impacts of wildfires in Amazonian bird communities are important and persistent, and need to be emphasized in further studies and conservation management strategies.
Library of Congress Subject Headings
Bird communities -- Effect of fires on -- Amazon River Region
Bird populations -- Effect of fires on -- Amazon River Region
Bird communities -- Effect of fires on -- Brazil
Bird populations -- Effect of fires on -- Brazil
Wildfires -- Amazon River Region
Wildfires -- Brazil
Format
application/pdf
Number of Pages
174
Publisher
South Dakota State University
Recommended Citation
Mestre, Luiz Augusto Macedo, "Wildfires and Amazonian Birds : A Broad-Scale and Long-Term Study on the Effects of Fire on Amazonian Bird Communities and Populations" (2011). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1817.
https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd2/1817