There are 1801 bird species in Brazil and 856 of those occur in Cerrado. This Biome is the largest, most distinctive and the richest Savanna in the world and it is probably the world's most endangered tropical Savanna, becoming a Hotspot and priority area for biodiversity conservation. Ecological Station Serra das Araras (EESA) occupies an area of 28.700 hectares of Cerrado, located in the Southwest of the State of Mato Grosso. It is part of the Provincia Serrana, a 400 km long and 40 km large mountain corridor connecting the Amazonian and Pantanal Biomes. The bird community of EESA was sampled monthly from May 2006 through December 2007. We placed a 500 m transect in each of five vegetation types. Each transect was walked once a month for 4 hours starting at sunrise and for 2 hours starting at sunset. Total sampling effort was 600 hours, comprising 80 daylight hours and 40 evening hours per transect/habitat. The list of birds of ESSA has 431 bird species, including 13 endemic birds of Cerrado and 7 threatened species in Brazil. Of these, 396 were recorded during this sampling effort, 29 out the sampling effort and six species were not registered in this study, although listed in studies conducted at EESA between 1986 and 1988. In the semi deciduous forest were recorded 150 species of birds, 256 species in riparian forest, 218 species in cerradão, 206 in cerrado sensu strict and 176 in parquet cerrado. Data analysis splitted the phytophysiognomies in two groups, the savanna (cerrado sensu strict and parque cerrado) and forested (gallery forest, cerradão and semi deciduous forest) bird communities. EESA bird richness is high compared with other areas of Cerrado. Perhaps the environmental heterogeneity of this protected area, with varied topography and vegetation is the reason for this larger species number. Along with the number of bird species, the presence of endemic and endangered species reinforces the importance of EESA for the conservation of this group.
Cerrado; protected area; habitat use; community ecology; endemic species; red list
