Bird diversity associated with different forested areas of the Viñales Experimental Agroforestry Station Bird diversity associated with different forested areas of the Viñales Experimental Agroforestry Station

Abstract

Pine-oak forests are among the most diverse ecosystems in the world, and birds in particular play an important role in their functioning. This research was carried out at the Viñales Agroforestry Experimental Station to determine the bird diversity associated with different pine-oak forest areas. Two Pinus caribaea areas (natural and plantation) and two pine-oak areas (one more disturbed and one less disturbed) were selected, in which 19 circular plots were established, with a fixed radius of 15 m, distributed 100 m apart. The bird species present in each area were inventoried in May and October 2023. Diversity was determined by interpreting the relative abundance graph, rarefaction curves based on the number of samples, and cluster analysis. The Kruskal-Wallis means comparison test was performed to determine whether there were differences in the richness and abundance of detected birds between areas, months, and sampled strata; the Mann-Whitney U and Wilcoxon tests were also used to determine the differences. A total of 31 bird species were identified, grouped into 8 orders, 16 families, and 25 genera. Most were permanent residents, consuming insects and grains. There were no significant differences in species richness and abundance between areas and months, while there were differences between the high and middle strata and the low strata.