The importance of riparian forest for the maintenance of bird species richness in an Atlantic Forest remnant, southern Brazil

Abstract

We compared the composition and guild structure of bird communities of riparian and upland forest in an Atlantic forest reserve, the Godoy State Park (GP), in northern Paraná State, southern Brazil. Unlimited distance point counts were sampled monthly from September-December 2001, along four trails. Two trails in upland forest (TA and TB) were parallel to each other and about 300 m apart. Two trails in riparian forest (TC and TD) were along the Apertados River, about 100 m away from the river. A total of 145 species were recorded: 81 species were recorded in both upland and riparian forests, 19 species were recorded only in upland forest and 45 species were recorded exclusively in riparian forest. Among the 81 species occurring in both forest types, 18 species had significantly higher numbers of contacts in the riparian forest while only 8 species had significantly higher numbers of contacts in the upland forest. Taking into account the contacts numbers of the species the large frugivores guild was closely associated to the upland forest, while bamboo and vine-tangles insectivore, canopy insectivores, edge omnivores, ground omnivore and midstory insectivores were those more closely related to the riparian forest.