Aves em oito áreas de Caatinga no Sul do Ceará e Oeste de Pernambuco, nordeste do Brasil: composição, riqueza e similaridade

Abstract

Rapid bird inventoires made in the Caatinga of southern Ceará and west Pernambuco in July and September 2004 found a total of 209 species. Birds characteristic of the different Caatinga habitats (from dense scrub to arboreal-arbustive forations) accounted for 99 species, followed by open habitats or generalist species (65) and waterbirds (45). We found no geographic pattern in area similarity. Numerically dominant species tend to be small insectivores feeding amid the lower vegetation and granivores such as Columbidae and Coryphospingus pileatus. Generalists such as Cyanocorax cyanopogon were also dominant in some áreas. The very disturbed scrub caatinga around temporary lagoons near Petrolina (Pernambuco) had the most species. The regional avifauna show few larger species such as Cracidae and Psitacidae, while birds associated to more arboreal, structured habitats such as the larger Dendrocolaptidae are also scarce or absent, refecting both direct human exploitation and the replacement of forest-like habitats by lower, less diverse scrub habitat.