Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: HILDA RAIANNE SILVA DE MELO

Uma banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO de DOUTORADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : HILDA RAIANNE SILVA DE MELO
DATE: 22/07/2026
TIME: 09:00
LOCAL: Sala de reuniões do CB
TITLE:

Landscape Influence on Bird Communities and Habitat Use in Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests

KEY WORDS:

Landscape ecology; birds; biodiversity conservation; occupancy modeling; landscape structure; Caatinga.

PAGES: 156
BIG AREA: Ciências Biológicas
AREA: Ecologia
SUMMARY:

Tropical forests, including both tropical rainforests (TRF) and tropical seasonally dry forests (TSDF), are among the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth. However, they have been extensively altered by anthropogenic activities, resulting in significant changes to landscape structure and associated biodiversity. Likewise, biomes such as the Caatinga have experienced increasing pressure from agricultural expansion, habitat degradation, and socioeconomic heterogeneity, highlighting the urgent need to understand the factors influencing species distributions. In this dissertation, we investigated how different dimensions of landscape structure, as well as environmental and socioeconomic factors, affect bird communities across multiple spatial scales. In the first chapter, we conducted a systematic review following the PRISMA protocol to evaluate the effects of landscape structure on bird communities in tropical forests, comparing tropical rainforests (TRF) and tropical seasonally dry forests (TSDF). The synthesis of 37 studies revealed a strong geographic and taxonomic bias toward humid forests, as well as a predominance of analyses conducted at limited spatial scales. Bird responses to landscape metrics differed between forest types, with more consistent positive effects of forest cover and connectivity observed in TRF, whereas responses in TSDF were more heterogeneous and null effects were more frequent, suggesting greater complexity and context dependence. In the second chapter, we investigated the determinants of occupancy and detection for 21 endemic and/or threatened bird species of the Caatinga using occupancy models fitted to municipality-level citizen science data. The results indicated that environmental variables, particularly elevation and vegetation cover, were the primary drivers of occupancy, whereas sampling effort and socioeconomic indicators strongly influenced species detection. Spatial analyses identified priority areas for conservation concentrated mainly in the central-southern portion of the biome. Overall, the findings of this dissertation demonstrate that avian responses to landscape structure vary according to both biome and spatial scale, emphasizing the need for integrated, multiscale approaches to biodiversity conservation in tropical ecosystems under intense anthropogenic pressure.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Externo à Instituição - GUILHERME SANTOS TOLEDO DE LIMA
Externo à Instituição - JAQUEIUTO DA SILVA JORGE
Presidente - 1439088 - MAURO PICHORIM