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The avifauna of the Polylepis woodlands of the Andean highlands: the efficiency of basing conservation priorities on patterns of endemism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2010

J. Fjeldså
J. Fjeldså
Affiliation:
Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
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Summary

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The Andean páramo and puna zones may once have been densely dotted by woodlands, mainly of Polylepis, but human impact has now led to a highly disjunct distribution of this habitat. Because of the habitat fragmentation, many specialized woodland birds now show relictual distributions. Speciations to the Polylepis zone took place in Peru and Bolivia during cold/arid climatic periods, as Polylepis-dominated woodland refuges were isolated away from the humid cis-Andean zone and the pre-Andean scrub-forest in Bolivia. An efficient protection of biodiversity in a minimum of well-managed areas could be achieved, if efforts were concentrated in highlands near the proposed Pleistocene woodland refuges: 55% of all endemic and 67% of all threatened and near-threatened landbirds of the high Andean zone of Peru and Bolivia were recorded within three 10 x 10 km study plots near Cochabamba in Bolivia and east of Abancay and on the east slope of Cordillera Blanca in Peru. The biological basis for the efficiency of this approach is discussed.

Los páramos y punas Andinas pueden haber estado densamente poblados de bosques, principalmente de Polylepis, pero el impacto humano ha causado una distribución muy esparcida de este habitat. Debido a la fragmentatión del habitat, muchos pájaros especializados al bosque, ahora muestran distribuciones rudimentales. La diferenciación de las espeties en la zona de Polylepis se dió en Perú y Bolivia durante períodos climáticos fríos/aridos, al igual que los refúgios de bosques dominados por Polylepis fueron aislados de la zona húmeda cis-Andina y de la zone chaqueña en Bolivia. Se podría lograr una protección efitiente de la biodiversidad en un mínimo de áreas bien manejadas, si se concentrasen los esfuerzos en las sierras cerca de los refúgios propuestos de bosque Pleistocenico. Así es, que un 55% de los pájaros endémicos y 67% de todos los especies en peligro de extintión de la zona alto-Andina de Perú y Bolivia fueron registrados dentro de tres áreas de estudio de 10 × 10 km, cerca de Cochabamba en Bolivia, y al sureste de Abancay y en la vertiente oriental de la Cordillera Blanca en Perú. El artículo diserta los processos básicos.

Type
Research Article
Information
Bird Conservation International , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , March 1993 , pp. 37 - 55
Copyright
Copyright © Birdlife International 1993

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