Establishing biodiversity baselines of avian communities in two arid ecoregions of northern Patagonia

Lorenzo Sympson; Juan Paritsis; Guillermo Amico

doi:10.56178/eh.v40i1.1512

Articles Published 28 July 2025 https://doi.org/10.56178/eh.v40i1.1512

Establishing biodiversity baselines of avian communities in two arid ecoregions of northern Patagonia

bird diversity ecoregions nomadic Patagonia ranch house waterfowl wetland

Lorenzo Sympson Sociedad Naturalista Andino Patagónica. Pasaje Juramento 190, 3º 1. San Carlos de Bariloche, Río Negro, Argentina

Juan Paritsis Sociedad Naturalista Andino Patagónica. Pasaje Juramento 190, 3º 1. San Carlos de Bariloche, Río Negro, Argentina | INIBIOMA, CONICET - Universidad Nacional del Comahue (UNComahue). Quintral 1250, (8400) San Carlos de Bariloche, Río Negro

Guillermo Amico Sociedad Naturalista Andino Patagónica. Pasaje Juramento 190, 3º 1. San Carlos de Bariloche, Río Negro, Argentina | INIBIOMA, CONICET - Universidad Nacional del Comahue (UNComahue). Quintral 1250, (8400) San Carlos de Bariloche, Río Negro

Abstract

Bird diversity and composition is key for environmental assessments and conservation planning. Bird diversity associated with arid ecosystems has received substantial research interest worldwide. However, bird communities in the arid areas of Patagonia have been scarcely examined. In this study, we analyze the richness, abundance, and composition of bird species along a transect from the Andes to the Atlantic coast in northern Patagonia associated with two arid ecoregions—the Monte and the Patagonian steppe. We established 14 sampling stations along Route 23. A total of 14 bird surveys were conducted at each station between 1998 and 2012. We examined variations in bird community composition across 14 stations using distance-based redundancy analysis (dbRDA) including the environmental variables of mean temperature, annual precipitation, the presence of trees (associated with ranch houses), and water availability (categorized as permanent, temporary, or absent). A total of 126 bird species belonging to 20 orders and 38 families were recorded at the sampling points. We found that mean temperature and water availability play a key role in structuring avian communities in arid ecosystems. Given the ongoing challenges posed by global warming in the region, including severe droughts, these findings highlight the importance of establishing a baseline for future studies. Such data are crucial for developing management plans aimed at preserving bird diversity in these vulnerable ecosystems.

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References

Abraham E, del Valle HF, Roig F, Torres L, Ares JO, Coronato F, Godagnone R (2009). Overview of the geography of the Monte Desert biome (Argentina). Journal of Arid Environments 73:144–153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2008.09.028
Bock CE, Jones ZF, Bock JH (2008). The Oasis Effect: Response of Birds to Exurban Development in a Southwestern Savanna. Ecological Applications 18:1093–1106. https://doi.org/10.1890/07-1689.1
Brandolin PG, Blendinger PG (2016). Effect of habitat and landscape structure on waterbird abundance in wetlands of central Argentina. Wetlands Ecology and Management 24: 93–105. https://doi.org/0.1007/s11273-015-9454-y
Caziani SM, Derlindati EJ, Tálamo A, Sureda AL, Trucco CE, Nicolossi G (2001). Waterbird richness in Altiplano wetlands of northwestern Argentina. Waterbirds 24:103–117. https://doi.org/10.2307/1522249
Chehébar C, Novaro A, Iglesias G, Walker S, Funes M, Tammone M, Didier K (2013). ‘Identificación de áreas de importancia para la biodiversidad en la estepa y el monte de Patagonia’. Ed: APN, ECS y TNC. https://doi.org/10.13140/2.1.2066.9446
Cruz-McDonnell KK, Wolf BO (2016). Rapid warming and drought negatively impact population size and reproductive dynamics of an avian predator in the arid southwest. Global Change Biology 22:237–253. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13092
Cusminsky G, Coviaga C, Ramos L, Pérez AP, Schwalb A, Markgraf V, Ariztegui D, Viehberg F, Alperin M (2020). Characterizing ecoregions in Argentinian Patagonia using extant continental ostracods. Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências 92:e20190459. https://doi.org/10.1590/0001-3765202020190459
Dean WRJ (2004). ‘Nomadic Desert Birds’. Springer: Berlin, Heidelberg https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-08984-2
Epele LB, Grech MG, Manzo LM, Macchi PA, Hermoso V, Miserendino ML, Bonada N, Cañedo-Argüelles M (2021). Identifying high priority conservation areas for Patagonian wetlands biodiversity. Biodiversity and Conservation 30:1359–1374. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-021-02146-2
Gibson MR, Runge CA, Stephens PA, Fuller RA, Willis SG (2022). Where nothing stands still: quantifying nomadism in Australian arid-zone birds. Landscape Ecology 37:191–208. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-021-01343-2
Gonzalez SL, Ghermandi L (2021). Overgrazing causes a reduction in the vegetation cover and seed bank of Patagonian grasslands. Plant and Soil 464:75–87. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-021-04931-y
Hurtado SI, Calianno M, Adduca S, Easdale MH (2023). Drylands becoming drier: evidence from North Patagonia, Argentina. Regional Environmental Change 23:165. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-023-02160-w
Iknayan KJ, Beissinger SR (2020). In transition: Avian biogeographic responses to a century of climate change across desert biomes. Global Change Biology 26:3268–3284. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15030
Jordan R, James AI, Moore D, Franklin DC (2017). Boom and bust (or not?) among birds in an Australian semi-desert. Journal of Arid Environments 139:58–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2016.12.013
Karger DN, Conrad O, Böhner J, Kawohl T, Kreft H, Soria-Auza RW, Zimmermann NE, Linder HP, Kessler M (2017). Climatologies at high resolution for the earth’s land surface areas. Scientific Data 4:170122. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.122
Lambertucci SA, Ruggiero A (2016). Cliff outcrops used as condor communal roosts are local hotspots of occupancy and intense use by other bird species. Biological Conservation 200:8–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2016.05.013
Legendre P, Gallagher ED (2001). Ecologically meaningful transformations for ordination of species data. Oecologia 129:271–280. https://doi.org/10.1007/s004420100716
Llanos FA, Failla M, García GJ, Giovine PM, Carbajal M, González PM, Barreto DP, Quillfeldt P, Masello JF (2011). Birds from the endangered Monte, the steppes and coastal biomes of the province of Río Negro, northern Patagonia, Argentina. Check List 7:782. https://doi.org/10.15560/11025
Ma L, Conradie SR, Crawford CL, Gardner AS, Kearney MR, Maclean IMD, McKechnie AE, Mi C-R, Senior RA, Wilcove DS (2023). Global patterns of climate change impacts on desert bird communities. Nature Communications 14:211. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-35814-8
Maestas JD, Knight RL, Gilgert WC (2003). Biodiversity across a Rural Land-Use Gradient. Conservation Biology 17:1425–1434. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1523-1739.2003.02371.x
Maleki S, Soffianian AR, Soltani Koupaei S, Saatchi S, Pourmanafi S, Sheikholeslam F (2016). Habitat mapping as a tool for water birds conservation planning in an arid zone wetland: The case study Hamun wetland. Ecological Engineering 95:594–603. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2016.06.115
Oksanen J, Kindt R, Legendre P, O’Hara B, Stevens MHH, Oksanen MJ, Suggests M (2022). The vegan package. Vegan: Community Ecology Package. R Package Version 2.2-0. http://CRAN.Rproject.org/package=vegan 10:2008
Olson DM, Dinerstein E, Wikramanayake ED, Burgess ND, Powell GVN, Underwood EC, D’amico JA, Itoua I, Strand HE, Morrison JC, Loucks CJ, Allnutt TF, Ricketts TH, Kura Y, Lamoreux JF, Wettengel WW, Hedao P, Kassem KR (2001). Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World: A New Map of Life on EarthA new global map of terrestrial ecoregions provides an innovative tool for conserving biodiversity. BioScience 51:933–938. https://doi.org/10.1641/0006-3568(2001)051[0933:TEOTWA]2.0.CO;2
Oñate JJ, Suárez F, Calero-Riestra M, Justribó JH, Hervás I, de la Morena ELG, Ramírez Á, Viñuela J, García JT (2023). Responses of Bird Communities to Habitat Structure along an Aridity Gradient in the Steppes North of the Sahara. Diversity 15:737. https://doi.org/10.3390/d15060737
Paruelo JM, Beltrán A, Jobbágy E, Sala OE, Golluscio RA (1998). The climate of Patagonia: general patterns and controls on biotic processes. Ecología Austral 008:085–101
Pascoe BA, Pavey CR, Morton SR, Schlesinger CA (2021). Dynamics of bird assemblages in response to temporally and spatially variable resources in arid Australia. Ecology and Evolution 11:3977–3990. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7293
Pearman M, Areta JI (2020). ‘Field Guide to the Birds of Argentina and the Southwest Atlantic’. London
Pedler RD, Ribot RFH, Bennett ATD (2014). Extreme nomadism in desert waterbirds: flights of the banded stilt. Biology Letters 10:20140547. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2014.0547
Rabinovich JE, Rapoport EH (1975). Geographical Variation of Diversity in Argentine Passerine Birds. Journal of Biogeography 2:141–157. https://doi.org/10.2307/3037987
Ralph CJ (1985). Habitat association patterns of forest and steppe birds of Northern Patagonia, Argentina. The Condor 87:471–483. https://doi.org/10.2307/1367943
Ralph CJ, Geupel GR, Pyle P, Martin TE, DeSante DF (1993). Handbook of field methods for monitoring landbirds. U.S. Department of Agriculture General Technical Report PSW-GTR-144. Albany, USA, 105.
Roshier DA, Robertson AI, Kingsford RT (2002). Responses of waterbirds to flooding in an arid region of Australia and implications for conservation. Biological Conservation 106:399–411. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3207(01)00268-3
Smith JE (2015). Effects of environmental variation on the composition and dynamics of an arid-adapted Australian bird community. Pacific Conservation Biology 21:74–86. https://doi.org/10.1071/PC14905
Srinivasan U, Elsen PR, Tingley MW, Wilcove DS (2018). Temperature and competition interact to structure Himalayan bird communities. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 285:20172593. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.2593
Teitelbaum CS, Mueller T (2019). Beyond Migration: Causes and Consequences of Nomadic Animal Movements. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 34:569–581. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2019.02.005
Vuilleumier F (1972). Bird Species Diversity in Patagonia (Temperate South America). The American Naturalist 106:266–271. https://doi.org/10.1086/282768
Weller MW (1999). ‘Wetland Birds: Habitat Resources and Conservation Implications’. Cambridge University Press
Wickens GE (1998). Arid and Semi-arid Environments of the World. In ‘Ecophysiology of Economic Plants in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands’. Pp. 5–15 en: Wickens GE (Ed.). Springer: Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-03700-3_2
Wiens JA (1991). Ecological Similarity of Shrub-Desert Avifaunas of Australia and North America. Ecology 72:479–495. https://doi.org/10.2307/2937189
Wiens JA, Rotenberry JT (1981). Habitat Associations and Community Structure of Birds in Shrubsteppe Environments. Ecological Monographs 51:21–42. https://doi.org/10.2307/2937305
Wolf B (2000). Global warming and avian occupancy of hot deserts: a physiological and behavioral perspective. Revista chilena de historia natural 73:395–400. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0716-078X2000000300003

How to cite

Lorenzo Sympson, Juan Paritsis, Guillermo Amico (2025). Establishing biodiversity baselines of avian communities in two arid ecoregions of northern Patagonia. El Hornero, Vol. 40 No. 1 (2025), 41-49. https://doi.org/10.56178/eh.v40i1.1512

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License: CC BY-NC 4.0

[1] Abraham E, del Valle HF, Roig F, Torres L, Ares JO, Coronato F, Godagnone R (2009). Overview of the geography of the Monte Desert biome (Argentina). Journal of Arid Environments 73:144–153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2008.09.028

[2] Bock CE, Jones ZF, Bock JH (2008). The Oasis Effect: Response of Birds to Exurban Development in a Southwestern Savanna. Ecological Applications 18:1093–1106. https://doi.org/10.1890/07-1689.1

[3] Brandolin PG, Blendinger PG (2016). Effect of habitat and landscape structure on waterbird abundance in wetlands of central Argentina. Wetlands Ecology and Management 24: 93–105. https://doi.org/0.1007/s11273-015-9454-y

[4] Caziani SM, Derlindati EJ, Tálamo A, Sureda AL, Trucco CE, Nicolossi G (2001). Waterbird richness in Altiplano wetlands of northwestern Argentina. Waterbirds 24:103–117. https://doi.org/10.2307/1522249

[5] Chehébar C, Novaro A, Iglesias G, Walker S, Funes M, Tammone M, Didier K (2013). ‘Identificación de áreas de importancia para la biodiversidad en la estepa y el monte de Patagonia’. Ed: APN, ECS y TNC. https://doi.org/10.13140/2.1.2066.9446

[6] Cruz-McDonnell KK, Wolf BO (2016). Rapid warming and drought negatively impact population size and reproductive dynamics of an avian predator in the arid southwest. Global Change Biology 22:237–253. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13092

[7] Cusminsky G, Coviaga C, Ramos L, Pérez AP, Schwalb A, Markgraf V, Ariztegui D, Viehberg F, Alperin M (2020). Characterizing ecoregions in Argentinian Patagonia using extant continental ostracods. Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências 92:e20190459. https://doi.org/10.1590/0001-3765202020190459

[8] Dean WRJ (2004). ‘Nomadic Desert Birds’. Springer: Berlin, Heidelberg https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-08984-2

[9] Epele LB, Grech MG, Manzo LM, Macchi PA, Hermoso V, Miserendino ML, Bonada N, Cañedo-Argüelles M (2021). Identifying high priority conservation areas for Patagonian wetlands biodiversity. Biodiversity and Conservation 30:1359–1374. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-021-02146-2

[10] Gibson MR, Runge CA, Stephens PA, Fuller RA, Willis SG (2022). Where nothing stands still: quantifying nomadism in Australian arid-zone birds. Landscape Ecology 37:191–208. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-021-01343-2

[11] Gonzalez SL, Ghermandi L (2021). Overgrazing causes a reduction in the vegetation cover and seed bank of Patagonian grasslands. Plant and Soil 464:75–87. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-021-04931-y

[12] Hurtado SI, Calianno M, Adduca S, Easdale MH (2023). Drylands becoming drier: evidence from North Patagonia, Argentina. Regional Environmental Change 23:165. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-023-02160-w

[13] Iknayan KJ, Beissinger SR (2020). In transition: Avian biogeographic responses to a century of climate change across desert biomes. Global Change Biology 26:3268–3284. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15030

[14] Jordan R, James AI, Moore D, Franklin DC (2017). Boom and bust (or not?) among birds in an Australian semi-desert. Journal of Arid Environments 139:58–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2016.12.013

[15] Karger DN, Conrad O, Böhner J, Kawohl T, Kreft H, Soria-Auza RW, Zimmermann NE, Linder HP, Kessler M (2017). Climatologies at high resolution for the earth’s land surface areas. Scientific Data 4:170122. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.122

[16] Lambertucci SA, Ruggiero A (2016). Cliff outcrops used as condor communal roosts are local hotspots of occupancy and intense use by other bird species. Biological Conservation 200:8–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2016.05.013

[17] Legendre P, Gallagher ED (2001). Ecologically meaningful transformations for ordination of species data. Oecologia 129:271–280. https://doi.org/10.1007/s004420100716

[18] Llanos FA, Failla M, García GJ, Giovine PM, Carbajal M, González PM, Barreto DP, Quillfeldt P, Masello JF (2011). Birds from the endangered Monte, the steppes and coastal biomes of the province of Río Negro, northern Patagonia, Argentina. Check List 7:782. https://doi.org/10.15560/11025

[19] Ma L, Conradie SR, Crawford CL, Gardner AS, Kearney MR, Maclean IMD, McKechnie AE, Mi C-R, Senior RA, Wilcove DS (2023). Global patterns of climate change impacts on desert bird communities. Nature Communications 14:211. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-35814-8

[20] Maestas JD, Knight RL, Gilgert WC (2003). Biodiversity across a Rural Land-Use Gradient. Conservation Biology 17:1425–1434. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1523-1739.2003.02371.x

[21] Maleki S, Soffianian AR, Soltani Koupaei S, Saatchi S, Pourmanafi S, Sheikholeslam F (2016). Habitat mapping as a tool for water birds conservation planning in an arid zone wetland: The case study Hamun wetland. Ecological Engineering 95:594–603. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2016.06.115

[22] Oksanen J, Kindt R, Legendre P, O’Hara B, Stevens MHH, Oksanen MJ, Suggests M (2022). The vegan package. Vegan: Community Ecology Package. R Package Version 2.2-0. http://CRAN.Rproject.org/package=vegan 10:2008

[23] Olson DM, Dinerstein E, Wikramanayake ED, Burgess ND, Powell GVN, Underwood EC, D’amico JA, Itoua I, Strand HE, Morrison JC, Loucks CJ, Allnutt TF, Ricketts TH, Kura Y, Lamoreux JF, Wettengel WW, Hedao P, Kassem KR (2001). Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World: A New Map of Life on EarthA new global map of terrestrial ecoregions provides an innovative tool for conserving biodiversity. BioScience 51:933–938. https://doi.org/10.1641/0006-3568(2001)051[0933:TEOTWA]2.0.CO;2

[24] Oñate JJ, Suárez F, Calero-Riestra M, Justribó JH, Hervás I, de la Morena ELG, Ramírez Á, Viñuela J, García JT (2023). Responses of Bird Communities to Habitat Structure along an Aridity Gradient in the Steppes North of the Sahara. Diversity 15:737. https://doi.org/10.3390/d15060737

[25] Paruelo JM, Beltrán A, Jobbágy E, Sala OE, Golluscio RA (1998). The climate of Patagonia: general patterns and controls on biotic processes. Ecología Austral 008:085–101

[26] Pascoe BA, Pavey CR, Morton SR, Schlesinger CA (2021). Dynamics of bird assemblages in response to temporally and spatially variable resources in arid Australia. Ecology and Evolution 11:3977–3990. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7293

[27] Pearman M, Areta JI (2020). ‘Field Guide to the Birds of Argentina and the Southwest Atlantic’. London

[28] Pedler RD, Ribot RFH, Bennett ATD (2014). Extreme nomadism in desert waterbirds: flights of the banded stilt. Biology Letters 10:20140547. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2014.0547

[29] Rabinovich JE, Rapoport EH (1975). Geographical Variation of Diversity in Argentine Passerine Birds. Journal of Biogeography 2:141–157. https://doi.org/10.2307/3037987

[30] Ralph CJ (1985). Habitat association patterns of forest and steppe birds of Northern Patagonia, Argentina. The Condor 87:471–483. https://doi.org/10.2307/1367943

[31] Ralph CJ, Geupel GR, Pyle P, Martin TE, DeSante DF (1993). Handbook of field methods for monitoring landbirds. U.S. Department of Agriculture General Technical Report PSW-GTR-144. Albany, USA, 105.

[32] Roshier DA, Robertson AI, Kingsford RT (2002). Responses of waterbirds to flooding in an arid region of Australia and implications for conservation. Biological Conservation 106:399–411. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3207(01)00268-3

[33] Smith JE (2015). Effects of environmental variation on the composition and dynamics of an arid-adapted Australian bird community. Pacific Conservation Biology 21:74–86. https://doi.org/10.1071/PC14905

[34] Srinivasan U, Elsen PR, Tingley MW, Wilcove DS (2018). Temperature and competition interact to structure Himalayan bird communities. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 285:20172593. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.2593

[35] Teitelbaum CS, Mueller T (2019). Beyond Migration: Causes and Consequences of Nomadic Animal Movements. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 34:569–581. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2019.02.005

[36] Vuilleumier F (1972). Bird Species Diversity in Patagonia (Temperate South America). The American Naturalist 106:266–271. https://doi.org/10.1086/282768

[37] Weller MW (1999). ‘Wetland Birds: Habitat Resources and Conservation Implications’. Cambridge University Press

[38] Wickens GE (1998). Arid and Semi-arid Environments of the World. In ‘Ecophysiology of Economic Plants in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands’. Pp. 5–15 en: Wickens GE (Ed.). Springer: Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-03700-3_2

[39] Wiens JA (1991). Ecological Similarity of Shrub-Desert Avifaunas of Australia and North America. Ecology 72:479–495. https://doi.org/10.2307/2937189

[40] Wiens JA, Rotenberry JT (1981). Habitat Associations and Community Structure of Birds in Shrubsteppe Environments. Ecological Monographs 51:21–42. https://doi.org/10.2307/2937305

[41] Wolf B (2000). Global warming and avian occupancy of hot deserts: a physiological and behavioral perspective. Revista chilena de historia natural 73:395–400. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0716-078X2000000300003