Species loss in a forest bird community near Lagoa Santa in southeastern Brazil

Patterns of species loss and decline in a forest bird community following deforestation near Lagoa Santa, Brazil, were examined in three forest fragments during 1987. Records of 107 species were compared with those collected by Lund and Reinhardt [Reinhardt, J. (1870). Vidensk. medd. Dansk Nat.-hist. Foren., 22, 1-124, 315-457]. Thirteen forest species recorded in the last century were not found in the same area in 1987. Some of these species were previously common. Species loss was related to fragment size, thus, in fragments of 24, 63 and 198 ha, we found 20, 29 and 34 forest species, respectively. The more diverse community of the original forest has been replaced by a community, strongly dominated by a few species, at least foul of which apparently, were uncommon in the last century. Species that had increased in the area were small forest birds that feed on small insects in the understorey. Those that declined included species with specialized food requirements or feeding behaviour and species at the limit of their distributional range. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.