Abstract

SERNA-LAGUNES, Ricardo; TORRES-CANTU, Gerardo Benjamín  and  GARCIA-MARTINEZ, Miguel Ángel. Birds in patches of cloud forest and secondary forest in the municipality of Huatusco, Veracruz. CienciaUAT [online]. 2023, vol.18, n.1, pp.6-24.  Epub Sep 29, 2023. ISSN 2007-7858.  https://doi.org/10.29059/cienciauat.v18i1.1669.

The Cloud Forest (CF) in central Veracruz, Mexico, represents a landscape that has been altered by anthropic activities. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the evolutionary and adaptive potential of the birds sheltered in the site, which face a landscape with a heterogeneous gradient. The objective of the study was to describe the diversity of birds in fragments of CF and secondary vegetation (VS), in the property “Finca La Pastoría”, Huatusco, Veracruz. The species and number of individuals in 14 bird watching sites were identified, with the sampling method based on counting points with a fixed radius of 30 m. 100 species from 33 families and 15 orders were recorded. In the CF, 916 individuals were identified, corresponding to 89 species, and in VS 331 individuals of 54 species, finding significant differences in bird diversity between sampling coverages. The records of Dendrortyx barbatus, Leptotila verreauxi and Vireo griseus stand out for being endemic and classified as endangered and threatened, respectively. Furthermore, Pionus senilis, a threatened species, as well as Falco peregrinus, Micrastur semitorquatus, Passerina ciris, Psarocolius montezuma, Myadestes occidentalis and Amazona albifrons, subject to special protection, were also recorded. This study provides information on how the birds make differential use of two vegetation covers, which can be used to generate sustainable strategies for forest management and conservation.

Keywords : humid forests; vegetation cover; bird diversity; conservation status; disturbance.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )