Diversity and composition of bird assemblages in a forest-shrub-savanna gradient of the Semiarid Chaco, Argentina

The primitive landscape predominant in the Chaco region of Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil, was a patchwork of forests alternating with grasslands and savannas. Regionally, over-grazing produced the replacement of herbaceous communities of grasslands and savannas for woody communities, leading to widespread shrublands. The aim of this study was to evaluate variation in diversity and composition of birds in a gradient of three types of habitats of Semi-arid Chaco: (i) Quebrachos Forest (Aspidosperma quebracho-blanco, Schinopsis lorentzii); (ii) Low shrubland, which constitutes a degraded version of the; (iii) Aibe Savanna (Elionurus muticus). The results suggest that the diversity of birds was determined by the vertical complexity of the vegetation and the degree of similarity of bird assemblages by the degree of similarity between habitat types. This led to: (i) gradual decreases in diversity of birds from the more complex (Forest) to the less complex habitat (Savanna); (ii) a unique composition of species in the Forest and the Savanna (more dissimilar habitats), where birds of closed habitats prevail in the first and open habitat species in the second and; (iii) Low shrubland, displaying greater similarity to the Forest than to the Savanna, representing a habitat unsuitable for open habitat birds. In forested areas the management should strive to maintain or improve the vegetal structure. In shrublands, grasslands and savannas prescribed fire could be used to favor open habitats birds.