TEMPERATURE AND WIND SPEED DRIVE BIRD SPECIES RICHNESS IN BRAZILIAN ARID HIGHLAND SCRUB

Abstract

Due to timely and financial hampering in developing nations, field research has been encouraged to use rapid and cost-effective methods without compromising the acquisition of good-quality data. Species richness is a widely used component in ecological studies, especially of birds, which are conspicuous, diurnal, and excellent bioindicators. Birds are also a proper taxonomic group for leading conservation planning. Therefore, conducting efficient bird censuses is of paramount importance worldwide. The aim of this research was to determine abiotic environmental factors that drive the record of species richness and further suggest climatic conditions to improve bird survey efficiency. Species lists were used to census bird communities in four localities in central Bahia, northeastern Brazil, within the Caatinga, an exclusive Brazilian biome. During the beginning of mornings, temperature and atmospheric pressure increased hourly, but wind speed showed no temporal pattern. Species richness was higher when temperatures and atmospheric pressure were lower, but there was no evident tendency between the number of species and wind speed. However, the additive interaction of temperature and wind speed accounted for the most plausible competing model. This suggests that in this Brazilian arid non-forested open-canopy and wind-susceptible habitats, censusing birds will record more species when temperatures are low (~20º C), but wind blows below speeds of ~10 m/s.