Using a systematic approach to select flagship species for bird conservation.

Conservation marketing campaigns that focus on flagship species play a vital role in biological diversity conservation because they raise funds and change people's behavior. However, most flagship species are selected without considering the target audience of the campaign, which can hamper the campaign's effectiveness. To address this problem, we used a systematic and stakeholder-driven approach to select flagship species for a conservation campaign in the Serra do Urubu in northeastern Brazil. We based our techniques on environmental economic and marketing methods. We used choice experiments to examine the species attributes that drive preference and latent-class models to segment respondents into groups by preferences and socioeconomic characteristics. We used respondent preferences and information on bird species inhabiting the Serra do Urubu to calculate a flagship species suitability score. We also asked respondents to indicate their favorite species from a set list to enable comparison between methods. The species' traits that drove audience preference were geographic distribution, population size, visibility, attractiveness, and survival in captivity. However, the importance of these factors differed among groups and groups differed in their views on whether species with small populations and the ability to survive in captivity should be prioritized. The popularity rankings of species differed between approaches, a result that was probably related to the different ways in which the 2 methods measured preference. Our new approach is a transparent and evidence-based method that can be used to refine the way stakeholders are engaged in the design of conservation marketing campaigns.

Impactos potenciais na avifauna decorrentes das alterações propostas para o Código Florestal Brasileiro / Potential impacts of the changes proposed in the Brazilian Forest Code on birds

As mudanças propostas no atual Código Florestal Brasileiro poderão levar a um aumento de desmatamentos e consequente diminuição de cobertura vegetal nativa (florestas, campos e banhados) que impactarão diretamente muitas espécies de aves. No Brasil, 17 espécies de aves globalmente ameaçadas são dependentes de florestas próximas a corpos d'água, sendo que oito destas só ocorrem em território brasileiro. Considerando os requisitos ecológicos dessas espécies, é possível prever que uma diminuição na largura da faixa que deve ser protegida na forma de Área de Preservação Permanente (APP) levará a perdas populacionais significativas que podem colocar em risco a sobrevivência das populações e, consequentemente, da espécie como um todo. Em paisagens fragmentadas essas APPs também funcionam como corredores, permitindo a dispersão das aves através da matriz. Do mesmo modo, áreas de Reserva Legal devem ser mantidas de forma complementar às APPs, já que a composição da avifauna varia entre as áreas de vegetação nativa situadas próximas e distantes de corpos d'água. A heterogeneidade ambiental é crucial para a manutenção da integridade das comunidades de aves. Mesmo pequenas manchas de floresta são importantes para a avifauna, funcionando como "trampolins ecológicos" que, assim como os corredores, possibilitam que aves florestais se desloquem através da paisagem. As aves são importantes predadoras, dispersoras e polinizadoras em agroecossistemas sendo que em áreas tropicais já foi demonstrado que uma maior riqueza de aves está correlacionada com uma maior taxa de remoção de artrópodes, incluindo pestes. Assim, mudanças propostas ao atual Código Florestal podem representar um impacto negativo não só em relação a biodiversidade, mas também em relação a própria produção agrícola.

Proposed changes in the current Brazilian Forest Code can lead to the reduction of native vegetation (forests, grasslands and wetlands) impacting directly many bird species. In Brazil, 17 globally threatened species are dependent of riverine forests and eight of these are restricted to the Brazilian territory. A decrease in the width of the area that should be protected as Permanent Preservation Areas (Área de Preservação Permanente - APP) can lead to significant population losses that would put at risk the integrity of populations and, in some cases, the survival of species. In fragmented landscapes, the APPs function as corridors, allowing the dispersion of birds through the matrix. Legal Reserve (Reserva Legal) areas should be maintained complementary to APPs, as the avifauna composition varies in areas located near and far from water bodies. Environmental heterogeneity is crucial to the maintenance of the bird community integrity. Even small patches of forest are important to the avifauna, working as stepping stones that, like the corridors, enable forest birds to move across the landscape. Birds are important predators, dispersers, and pollinators in agricultural ecosystems: in the Tropical region, areas with high bird diversity are significantly correlated with the highest rates of arthropods' removal, including those considered pests. Thus, proposed changes in the current Forest Code may represent a negative impact not only in relation to biodiversity, but also in regarding the agricultural production.