Evaluación del estado de conservación de Megascops koepckeae y Megascops roboratus en los Andes del Sur del Ecuador en base a los criterios de la UICN

Abstract

Abstract:The knowledge of the distribution and natural history of the Strigiformes order is a key tool to promote future conservation processes, since they are relevant species in maintaining the ecological balance. The present work allowed to define the distribution of the owls Megascops koepckeae (Screech-Owl of Koepcke) and Megascops roboratus (Peruvian Screech-Owl) in the south of Ecuador, as well as the state of conservation. For this, was sampled in the field with the Playback technique to the study species, with these data and with documented records, were made predictive distribution models, being the area of greatest probability for M Koepckeae the Andean part, and for M Roboratus it would be the Tumbesian Region of Ecuador. An assessment of the conservation status of the species was made using the UICN category record of threatened species. The obtained results indicate that M koepckeae is a species of Least concern (Lc), in contrast M roboratus presents a category of Near threat (Nt). With the application of this type of evaluation, it follows that it is necessary to implement a research effort for these species, since there is a lack of knowledge of its natural history and it can't be done an exact evaluation of its state conservation.