Diversity and Habitat Distribution of Birds in Coastal Marshes and Comparisons with Surrounding Upland Habitats in Southeastern South America

We studied variation in bird assemblages with plant associations for three different coastal marshes from Southeastern South America (SESA) and assessed how marsh bird assemblages related to nearby upland bird assemblages. We surveyed bird species and plant structure along the tidal gradient of each...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Estuaries and coasts 2014, Vol.37 (1), p.229-239
Main Authors: Isacch, Juan Pablo, Cardoni, Daniel Augusto, Iribarne, Oscar Osvaldo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Aves
Biodiversity
Biological and medical sciences
Birds
Brackish water ecosystems
Coastal marshes
Coastal Sciences
Comparative studies
Earth and Environmental Science
Ecology
Environment
Environmental Management
Freshwater & Marine Ecology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Grasslands
habitat conservation
Habitats
marshes
Migratory species
Plant structures
Synecology
Vegetation
vegetation structure
Vertebrates: general zoology, morphology, phylogeny, systematics, cytogenetics, geographical distribution
Water and Health
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Summary:We studied variation in bird assemblages with plant associations for three different coastal marshes from Southeastern South America (SESA) and assessed how marsh bird assemblages related to nearby upland bird assemblages. We surveyed bird species and plant structure along the tidal gradient of each locality from the low tide level to the upper habitats bordering coastal marshes. Twenty species frequently used coastal marshes, including relatively few migratory species. We found that birds occurring in SESA coastal marshes do not have distributions constrained to coastal marshes. Nonetheless, four bird assemblages were recognized in association with vegetation types and/or sites. Among the recorded coastal marsh species, the bay-capped wren-spinetail (Spartonoica maluroides) is both the most frequent and the most habitat constrained. Bird richness increases steadily along the tidal gradient associated with the increase in vegetation structure, suggesting that bird richness is directly explained by vegetation and indirectly by the physical conditions influencing vegetation structure. Results highlight the importance of SESA middle marshes as habitat for conservation of some threatened SESA grassland birds.
ISSN:1559-2723
1559-2731
DOI:10.1007/s12237-013-9655-7