Nocturnal bird communities in a

regenerating tropical forest, SE Peru

Laura Braunholtz

Zoology Work Placement MSci

University of Glasgow

Photo: Marcus Brent-Smith

Photo: Marcus Brent-Smith

Aim:

Investigate how different levels of human disturbance has

affected the nocturnal bird community of the MLC reserve.

Hypotheses:

H1: That time of survey would affect the number of

nocturnal bird individuals detected.

H2: That the forest with a history of higher human

disturbance would have a lower diversity and abundance of

nocturnal birds.

H1: That time of survey would

affect the number of individuals

detected.

Fig. 1: Comparison of average bird abundance for AM and PM transects. Each

data point (N=11) is the average bird abundance (birds per km trail surveyed) for

each trail (p=0.23).

H2: That the forest type with a history

of higher human disturbance (CCR)

would have a lower diversity and

abundance of nocturnal birds.

Fig. 1: Average number of birds encountered per km.

Fig. 2: Sample-based rarefaction curves for number of species estimated

to be encountered with the number of individuals sampled for the three

forest types.

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Com

mon

Pot

oo

Gre

at P

otoo

Long-

taile

d Pot

oo

Short-

taile

d N

ight

jar

Ladde

r-ta

iled

Nig

htja

r

Oce

llate

d Poo

rwill

Paura

que

Am

azon

Pyg

my

Ow

l

Ferru

gino

us P

ygm

y O

wl

Tawny

Bel

lied

Scree

ch O

wl

Verm

icul

ated

Scr

eech

Ow

l

Ban

d-be

llied

Ow

l

Spect

acle

d O

wl

Mot

tled

Ow

l

Cre

sted

Ow

l

Abu

ndan

ce

CCR

PCR

SLR