BIRD DISTRIBUTION IN A FOREST FRAGMENT IN LAVRAS, SOUTHERN MINAS GERAIS STATE

It has been realized a bird survey in an urban Forest fragment, in Lavras, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. This work aims to evaluate bird diversity, propose some conservation strategies and analyses how ecological properties are related with landscape elements in local scale. It has been used observation/vocalization in fixed points and mist-nets during 50 days (520 hours). It has been recorded 122 species belonging to 38 families. In winter time (dry season) the lesser occurrence of frugivorous and nectarivorous species are possibly related with the absence of fruits and flowers. In summer time (raining season) a higher occurrence of the species can be directly related to the availability of food and places for nest. Although not to have been detected threatened species, the diversity was raised in relation to the localization and to the size of the forest fragment. The most abundant families of birds had been Tyrannidae (23.7%), followed for Thraupidae (9.8%) and Emberezidae (7.3%). In terms of areas, they had been registered 32.7% in edge and 46.7% of species in interior. When the subject was stratification, 36% of the species had been detected in the canopy, 14% in sub-forest and 10.6% in shrubs and ground. In relation to feed guilds, it has been observed 47.5% of insetivores species, 13.9% of frugivores, 13.1% of granivores, 9.0% of omnivores, 8.1% of carnivores, 7.3% of nectarivores and 0.8% of detritivores. The results evidence the importance of urban forest fragments for the dynamic balance of the diversity of birds aiming at to the maintenance of the biological diversity of the interaction fauna-flora.