Distribution and trophic structure of birds in a petrochemical industrial gradient in southern Brazil

Abstract

Birds are affected by industrialization processes so that there is elimination of some species while another take advantage in the altered environments. Between August 2004 and November 2005, 113 surveys were conducted in three areas with industrialization degree in a petrochemical complex in Triunfo, Rio Grande do Sul. Thirty-nine bird species were registered, in which 66.7% were occasional or overflying, 25.6% were likely resident, and 7.7% were resident. The predominant feeding habit was insectivore (35.9%) and omnivore (35.9%), and 12 species used the petrochemical environment as breeding site. We registered different species richness and bird abundance along the industrialization gradient, being greater in less disturbed and less in the area of greatest anthropogenic impact. No significant differences on species richness and bird abundance were registered between seasons along the study. Ecological aspects of 15 species that inhabit the industrial environment evidence their adaptation for exploitation of scarce available resources in the strongly impacted petrochemical environment.

Key words: avian ecology, landscape ecology, anthropic degree, industrialization.