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Waterbird community composition in relation to lake physical traits and wetland limnological conditions in the Amazon basin

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Abstract

The mechanisms governing assemblages and the maintenance of biodiversity in tropical environments remain disputed. Two hypotheses were tested for waterbird communities in the Amazonian wetlands: (1) waterbird richness and gradients in species composition differ in Amazonian white- and black-water lakes, and are influenced by variation in lake-to-lake differences in characteristics including area, perimeter, shape, and isolation; (2) waterbird assemblages are also influenced by neighboring water-body richness (rivers, channels, ponds, and other lakes) and location of lakes in the wetlands in relation to the tributary rivers. Bird surveys were conducted using a boat in 264 lakes stretching over 1,000 km of Amazon River floodplains. The hypotheses were tested using multivariate ordination analysis, followed by multiple linear models, to evaluate how bird richness (number of species) and species composition (which species) are affected by abiotic lake characteristics. At a local scale, lake perimeter, area, and shape affected local heterogeneity in species composition of the bird community, whereas at larger scales differences among sites in water-body richness and black- and white-water types were associated with variation in waterbird richness. The patterns found indicate that lake limnological attributes influence local heterogeneity in waterbird communities within Amazonian floodplains.

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Acknowledgements

The author thanks Bruce Forsberg for logistical support, hospitality, and permission to work in the Veloz (boat), João Sá, and the Veloz boat commander Heraldo and his assistants, for his diligence and competence during the 2012 bird surveys. Pedro Santos and S. Wilson helped with the editing and critical review of the manuscript. Frederico Fonseca (Agroeco-INPA Laboratory, in memoriam) and Rodrigo Verçosa produced Fig. 1; Rodrigo Dias kindly gave the author a copy of his Comunidata program, used in Fig. 2. João Vitor Silva kindly provided the data on waterbirds and lake attributes from 30 lakes in the mid-Juruá River. The author thanks the local people of RDS Amanã and Mamirauá, and the Director of Mamirauá Institute (IDSM), Helder Queiroz, for their hospitality and permission to work in the Reserves. IDSM-FEPIM 1/2002 (IDSM-MCTI) Brazil financed waterbird research in the wetlands of Amanã-Mamirauá. Grants from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (JNICT/PRAXIS/POCTI-FCT)/Portugal supported Pedro Santos, who shared his knowledge of Amazonian waterbirds and coordinated the logistics and waterbird sampling in Amanã-Mamirauá RDS in 2003. José Emilson Tibúrcio (Zé Pretinho) drove the motorboat in Amanã-Mamirauá. Larissa Mellinger, Ricardo Ariza Bernal, and field assistants Edivan Ferreira Feitosa and João Carvalho also participated in field trips in Amanã-Mamirauá. The author thanks the boat driver Sr. Etter Roy and the field assistants and colleagues Thais Kasecker, Alyson Melo, and Jessica Cancelli for their diligence and competence during fieldwork in 2005–2006 at the Ayapuá and Caua sites, RDS Piagaçu-Purus. The author also thanks Cláudia de Deus, Renato da Silveira (in memoriam), and the Instituto Piagaçu for logistical support, and the people of Cuiuanã (Sr. Gilberto and family) for hospitality and permission to work in the area. The author thanks the ICMBio staff in Anavilhanas, Adenilson Azevedo dos Santos, Sr. Antônio, Jefferson Gomes dos Santos, Antônio Craveiro Martins, Francisco de Assis dos Santos, Raimundo Oliveira da Silva, Janis Monteiro, Marli Gomes da Silva, Alegário Monteiro dos Santos, for their assistance with local logistics. The author thanks the ICMBio researchers at Novo Airão, Bruno Marchena Tardio, Tatiana Alves, Giovanna Palazzi, and Igor Matos Soares for logistical support, hospitality, and permission to work in the area. The author thanks Melissa Rosas, Giselle Casetta (in 2007), Adriana Terra, Jessica Cancelli, Pedro Santos (in 2009), and José Antônio Melgueiro dos Santos (Queca) for their diligence and competence during field work. The author thanks the anonymous reviewers and Dr. John Melack (Editor) for their suggestions and criticisms in the manuscript. Financial support for waterbird sampling in Anavilhanas in 2009 was granted by Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq-Processo: 472276/2008-5), Brazil. In 2012, financial support to the author was granted by Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA) and CNPq (Processo: 301184/2010-0). This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by the author.

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    Renato Cintra

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Cintra, R. Waterbird community composition in relation to lake physical traits and wetland limnological conditions in the Amazon basin. Hydrobiologia 826, 43–65 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-018-3676-y

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