Aves como bioindicadores de la calidad de hábitat en un gradiente de intervención en la hoya de Loja

Abstract

Abstract:Information on the diversity of birds in the pit of Loja is limited. The present work was oriented to determine the diversity of birds in the city, and define if this can be considered as a bioindicator of the quality of local habitats, for this purpose the alpha, beta and functional diversity of this group of fauna were evaluated . Sampling was carried out between January and April of 2019, in nine points of the city, three points for each habitat: forest, peri-urban area and urban sector. The results of the alpha diversity through the use of the Simpson and Shannon-Weaver indexes determined that the forest area is home to greater species richness, while in peri-urban and urban areas it tends to decrease; beta diversity was calculated with the Bray-Curtis similarity index, which determined that periurban and urban areas have more species in common (75%), unlike the forest area where they differ from the previous ones, keeping similarity only in 25%. In this way it could be concluded that the diversity of birds in the Loja pit is high, but this tends to decrease as the urban structure increases. On the other hand, the present work allowed to identify that, components such as the taxonomic and functional diversity of birds can be used as environmental indicators.