| Iwokrama is pleased to present a new regular feature of its quarterly newsletter: "Global Environmental Issues". We will choose a different topic for each issue and then offer pertinent excerpts and web links to current research or articles. We hope that this feature will then offer a broader context for Iwokrama's work. We have chosen for our first topic “The Importance of Birds”.
Any visitor to Iwokrama Forest is thrilled to see the unusually beautiful – and intensely orange! – male Guianan Cock-of-the-rock (Rupicola rupicola). This is one of 13 species of Cotingidae recorded in Iwokrama Forest. |
It may seem obvious to state that birds are important to the environment, but given the extraordinarily high bird diversity in Iwokrama Forest, we felt it was a good idea to take a moment to consider why...
From the deepest forests to the largest cities, birds are critical to the ecosystems in which they live, for they perform a wide variety of functions that contribute to environmental health:
- Insectivorous birds eat bugs that may otherwise destroy entire crops of agricultural products.
- Birds aid in flower pollination or eat fruits and disperse the seeds, so ensuring the life cycles for multitudes of plant species.
- Populations of animals that spread disease to humans and other animals are often kept in check only through bird predation.
- Scavenging birds help speed up the decomposition of dead animals and therefore aid in returning valuable nutrients to the soil.
- Some birds are top predators and are therefore important indicators of the overall health of an ecosystem.
- Birds are a major source of food for humans around the world.
- Birds are important to the human soul as well, for some of them make the most beautiful music in nature.
The Yellow-billed Jacamar (Galbula albirostris) has highly iridescent feathers and a relatively long bill (1.5”) that it uses to hunt insects. This is one of five species of Galbulidae recorded in Iwokrama Forest. |
WEB ARTICLES
“How Birds Keep our World Safe from the Plagues of Insects”, by John Sterling: A Fact Sheet from the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center
EXCERPTS:
“Population outbreaks of some insect species can have a devastating effect on the forest because the insects severely defoliate the trees or attack the bark.”
“Insect outbreaks can annually destroy hundreds of millions of dollars of agricultural and forest products.”
"In Europe, there have been numerous, successful, programs to provide nest boxes for cavity-nesting birds such as the Pied Flycatcher. These birds can substantially reduce the insect pest population without the economic, health, and environmental costs of pesticides."
>Read the full article.
“Global bird populations face dramatic decline in coming decades, study predicts”, by Mark Schwartz for Stanford Report (Stanford University, USA)
EXCERPTS:
"Ten percent of all bird species are likely to disappear by the year 2100, and another 15 percent could be on the brink of extinction, according to a new study by Stanford biologists. This dramatic loss is expected to have a negative impact on forest ecosystems and agriculture worldwide and may even encourage the spread of human diseases, according to the study published in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) in December."
"'...as many as one out of four may be functionally extinct—that is, critically endangered or extinct in the wild,' said researcher Cagan H. Sekercioglu of the Stanford Center for Conservation Biology (CCB) and lead author of the PNAS study. 'Important ecosystem processes, particularly decomposition, pollination and seed dispersal, will likely decline as a result.'"
"'It's hard to imagine the disappearance of a bird species making much difference to human well-being,' said Daily, an associate professor (research) in Stanford's Department of Biological Sciences and director of the CCB Tropical Research Program. 'Yet consider the case of the passenger pigeon. Besides mail becoming a lot less fun to receive, its loss is thought to have made Lyme disease the huge problem it is today.'"
>Read the full article.
“Biodiversity impacts of the Asian tsunami tragedy”, a page from the web site of BirdLife International
EXCERPTS:
"...the tsunami event is likely to have some significant impacts on biodiversity, and once the situation has been stabilised these will need to be addressed. The following notes provide a preliminary assessment of the bird species, habitats and key sites that might be affected."
"The direct impacts of the tsunami on birds and other biodiversity are thought likely to include... Direct mortality... Damage to forests... Damage to conservation infrastructure... Damage to wetlands..."
>Read the full web page text.
Birds and Iwokrama Forest
With about 450 bird species recorded so far and an estimated count of over 600, Iwokrama Forest is a bird watching and bird researching paradise. There are higher densities of larger fruit-eating birds, such as cracids, cotingas, and parrots than in other areas of the Guiana Shield or Amazonia. There are also 24 different species of hummingbirds, compared to just one in the entire eastern continental US. Also living in Iwokrama Forest is a healthy population of the world’s most powerful species of raptor, the Harpy Eagle, which grows to over one metre tall and hunts sloths and monkeys.
>Learn more about Bird Highlights of Iwokrama.
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