Diversity of the Owl Species in the Amazon Region

Abstract

The Amazon basin is the largest tropical rainforest in the world covering almost 40 per cent of the South American continent. For centuries, its vastness and inaccessibility have been protecting this area. The general belief is that the Amazonia region has unparalleled biodiversity which means that one in five of all bird species known in the globe lives in the Amazon Jungle. The author is testing this claim against the known occurrence of the world owl species. There are fewer owl species in Amazonia than expected namely 34 (against 54 expected). Two possible reasons are that our knowledge of the Amazon region species is still incomplete as may be indicated that new owl species have been found recently. The other reason could be that the rainforest is not after all the most wanted biotope for many of the owl species which often depend on the prey available in the bottom tier of the forest which is flooded during the wet season. Whatever the reason is, more detailed research is needed on all species of the Amazon region as there must be many new owls and other animal species out there waiting to be discovered. We have no idea how many of those new species have been or will be lost due to the rainforest destruction before they can be discovered. Therefore, it is necessary to stop deforestation in the Amazonia, be it due to forest logging, uncontrolled fires (often deliberately set) agriculture expansion or industrial development. Deforestation is not the only reason that the Amazon basin is changing. The rainforest suffers also from the global climate change when the higher temperatures reduce the rainfall in the tropical Atlantic region, causing drought and increasing the fire susceptibility of the rainforest. Luckily the owls are not so sensitive to surrounding forest cover as many other tropical forest-dependent bird species, like the large-bodied avian frugivores. Impacts of forest fragmentation on owls will need additional research.