Conservation of temperate forest birds in Chile: implications from the study of an isolated forest relict

We characterize the bird assemblage of an isolated relict temperaterainforest (Santa Inés) in terms of its structure, composition anddynamics. The relict character and long-term isolation of this forest remnant,immersed in a matrix of semiarid scrub, provide a natural experiment to assessthe consequences of long-term isolation and forest area reduction for temperatebird species. Bird surveys were conducted in a forest fragment and thesurrounding scrub matrix between April 1999 (austral autumn) and October 2000(austral spring) on a seasonal basis. Within the forest fragment wedistinguished two microhabitat types: creeks and areas far from creeks (i.e.slopes). A total of 36 species were recorded in the study site, of which 21were inside the relict forest. Highest bird abundance and richness wererecorded during winter and spring, and these were always higher in creek plotsrather than slope plots. Comparisons between this assemblage and thosedistributed in the continuous temperate forest (located more than 900km southwards) indicate that this bird assemblage shares moresimilarities, with regard to bird species composition, to southern temperateforest localities and to other relict forests, than to nearer scrub habitats.However, there are eight species, endemic to temperate forests in southern SouthAmerica, missing from our system. In this regard, our analyses indicate thatthese eight endemic species should be of great conservation concern and willlikely be the ones that will go extinct first if the fragmentation of thetemperate forest continues.