The bird assemblage of an urban fragment of the Atlantic Forest in Northeastern Brazil, and the performance difference between two ornithological surveys methods

Abstract

The Atlantic Forest biome encompasses a major portion of Brazilian biodiversity, with a high species richness. The Pernambuco Center of Endemism, which is part of this biome, has undergone extensive deforestation, and now survives in the form of small and isolated remnants of the original forest cover. These remnants include Maceió Municipal Park, an important urban forest in the capital of Alagoas. The present study inventoried the bird fauna of this conservation unit, providing data on species composition, richness, and abundance, with samples being collected monthly between August 2014 and January 2016. Quantitative data were collected using MacKinnon list and point counts. A total of 103 bird species were recorded. Five of these species are endemic to the Pernambuco Center and two to the Atlantic Forest, while four are listed under some threat of extinction. The results indicated that the MacKinnon lists present better efficiency to obtainspecies richness, while point counts present the best performance for abundance estimates. Our findings also indicate that Maceió Municipal Park is a potentially important refuge for the local bird fauna. The presence of threatened and endemic taxa highlights the relevance of the study area for the conservation of the region’s biodiversity.