Importance of Swamp Forest Fragments for the Habitat and Conservation of Vertebrates

Abstract

Abstract The Temu-Pitra swamp forests in Chile support great biodiversity, however, they are highly threatened by anthropic disturbances that increase the dragging of sediments. Between 2020 and 2021 we recorded vertebrates in a swamp forest fragment in southern Chile, and identified 41 species of birds and eight mammals. Nine species of birds and two species of mammals are strictly aquatic and have greater dependence for their survival on the remnant of swamp forest studied. This swamp forest fragment provides critical habitat for strictly aquatic birds and mammals, but also for terrestrial species (birds and carnivores) with extensive home ranges. The swamp forest is inserted in a sub-basin forest matrix that threatens its conservation, through the dragging and deposition of sediment in the bodies of water. Although the swamp forest fragment studied presented a less diverse vertebrate community compared to other local wetlands, we suggest that it plays an important role in the conservation of these vertebrates in southern Chile, where the development of forestry activity continues to produce fragmentation and loss of habitat, in addition to the deterioration of water resources.