Abstract
The Juruá River is the third largest white-water tributary of the Amazon River, yet, historically, it has not been considered an important barrier for bird communities. The upper region of the Juruá River was the focus of two ornithological collections in the early twentieth century, but the middle region, where the river and surrounding várzea flooded forest widen, has remained largely unexplored by ornithologists. Inspired by Dr. Emilie Snethlage, whose ornithological expeditions to Amazonian rivers during the early twentieth century were foundational in documenting the importance of river barriers, we undertook a month-long expedition to the middle Juruá River. We collected the first modern specimens, high-quality tissues, and sound recordings of birds from the middle Juruá region. Combining our data with those from previous collections, we present the first comprehensive inventory of bird species from the Juruá region, document several significant range extensions, and report the first evidence that the middle Juruá River acts as a barrier in at least four species complexes of terra firme upland forest birds. Our findings have important taxonomic and biogeographic implications for birds of the Juruá region and southwestern Amazon basin.
Zusammenfassung
Vögel des Rio Juruá: ausgedehnte Várzea als Barriere für Vögel der Terra Firme
Der Rio Juruá ist der drittgrößte Weißwasser-Nebenfluss des Amazonas, historisch gesehen jedoch nicht als relevante biogeographische Barriere für Vogelgemeinschaften angesehen. Der obere Teil des Rio Juruá war Ziel zweier ornithologischer Sammlungen zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts, sein mittlerer Teil, wo der Fluss und seine Auen ausgedehnter sind, blieb aber bis 2019 von Vogelexperten weitgehend unerforscht. Inspiriert von Dr. Emilie Snethlage, deren Expeditionen auf Amazonasflüssen im frühen 20. Jahrhundert die Bedeutung von Flüssen als Barrieren zeigten, machten wir eine einmonatige Expedition entlang des mittleren Rio Juruá. Wir sammelten dort die ersten Exemplare, hochwertige Gewebe sowie Tonaufnahmen. Zusammen mit den Daten aus früheren Sammlungen präsentieren wird das bisher umfangreichste Inventar der Vögel des Rio Juruá, dokumentieren Erweiterungen von Verbreitungsgebieten und zeigen, dass der mittlere Rio Juruá eine Barriere für mindestens vier Artkomplexe des Terra-Firme-Waldes ist. Unsere Ergebnisse sind bedeutsam für Fragen der Taxonomie und Biogeographie von Vögeln der Region des Rio Juruá und dem südöstlichen Amazonas.
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Data availability
The data collected along fieldwork are available in details in Tables S1 and S2.
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Acknowledgments
The data presented here are the results of the Emilie Snethlage Expedition. This article is dedicated to Emilie Snethlage, a pioneering field ornithologist and role model for women scientists. We thank all our supporters who made this field expedition possible: Scientific Exploration Society of London, Coypu Foundation, LSU College of Science, the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico do Brasil (CNPq), Sir Charles Blois, Thomas and Melissa Wafer, Robb Brumfield, Mike Harvey, Brant Faircloth, Nikki Skinner, Tatiana Pongiluppi, Thiago Vernaschi Vieira da Costa, Gabriel Leite, Andressa Scabin, Tammie Jackson, Valerie Derouen, Mario Cohn-Haft, Luciano Naka, Camila Ribas, Erika Zingst-Zaher, Carlos Pitaluga, Jessica Manafi, and Dawn Jenkins. We thank Robb Brumfield, Dan Lane, Van Remsen, Oscar Johnson, Andre Moncrieff, and an anonymous reviewer for their valuable comments on the manuscript. We thank Ilse Grantsau and Ingo Grantsau for providing the abstract in German. We thank Angela Prochilo for the help along fieldwork and for documenting our expedition in a video documentary. We are grateful for the help and support provided by the managers of Reserva do Desenvolvimento Sustentável Uacari, and Reserva Extrativista do Médio Juruá. We are grateful to the community leaders who allowed us to work in their lands, and to our local field guides Almir Rogério Nascimento, Ana Lucia Teixeira da Silva, and Josué Campello Cavalcante. Fieldwork complied with the current laws of Brazil, and it was undertaken under SISBIO permit: 28294-14, CONCEA permit, and LSU IACUC Protocol 18-054.
Funding
Fieldwork was funded by the Scientific Exploration Society of London, the Coypu Foundation, the LSU College of Science, the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico do Brasil (CNPq), Sir Charles Blois, and Thomas and Melissa Wafer.
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GDR conceived the article idea. GDR, MJM, BC, AEH, GL, BM, JFS, MAR, and DCS collected data in the field. GDR, MJM, BC, AEH, GL, BM, JFS, LFS, MAR, and DCS curated the data, and performed analysis. GDR, MJM, BC, AEH, GL, BM, JFS, LFS, MAR, and DCS wrote and edited the manuscript.
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Del-Rio, G., Mutchler, M.J., Costa, B. et al. Birds of the Juruá River: extensive várzea forest as a barrier to terra firme birds. J Ornithol 162, 565–577 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-020-01850-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-020-01850-0