Artigos

Descrição

Recent research has shown that many shorebird populations are declining around the world. One of the main factors influencing population reduction may be habitat loss and/or degradation. Mangroves and other associated habitats along the coast of Brazil provide food resources and shelter for many Nearctic migratory shorebirds, thus being important as stopover sites along the Western Atlantic Flyway . In the past 10 years, critical coastal habitats in NE Brazil have been threatened by rapid development of shrimp ponds, and the State of Ceará alone accounts for almost 30% of the country s production. This flyway fragmentation may be creating a 1,000km bottleneck for Nearctic migratory birds along the Western Atlantic Flyway. This degradation of critical coastal habitats also reduces the adaptive capacity and resilience of these coastal habitats to adapt to sea level rise due to climate change. The main objective of this proposal is to promote the conservation of shorebirds and their habitats in NE Brazil by improving our understanding on shorebird seasonal abundance and habitat quality and concurrently, the impacts of shrimp farming on intertidal environments. In this sense, an intensive research program to quantify shorebird seasonal abundance and species composition and to estimate shorebird prey abundance in different intertidal habitats will be conducted in three monitoring sites along the coast of the State of Ceará, in order to evaluate the importance of NE Brazil for migratory shorebirds. Besides the ornithological research, an extensive mapping of the coast of Ceará and portions of Rio Grande do Norte State will be conducted in order to quantify the existing pond area and the amount of shorebird habitats (e.g., salt flats, mud flats, mangroves) occupied by shrimp ponds. This data will be essential in providing conclusive information on the impact of shrimp farms on shorebird habitats in NE Brazil, and establishing a scientific basis for devi.

Situação
Em andamento

Natureza
Pesquisa

Financiador(es)
US Fish and Wildlife Service (Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act) - Auxílio financeiro / Universidade Federal do Ceará - Cooperação.

Laboratórios envolvidos
Laboratório de Geoecologia das Paisagens

Coordenação
Prof. Dr. Antonio Jeovah Andrade Meireles