Using birds to assess and track forest restoration

Abstract

We present a simple method to use birds to assess and track the restoration of Tropical Montane Cloud Forests using birds as indicator species. The method is composed of three pieces: a classification of disturbance phases, the collection of speciesand assembly-level bird data, and the matching of these two data sets to understand its relationships. We were able to select three species of resident and three species of Neotropical migrants exclusively associated to each of the four habitat phases, as well as some characteristics at the assembly level that help understand the condition of habitats, prescribe restoration intervention plans, and to track its progress over time. The approach described here is intended to be of simple application, aimed for practitioners, and be easily replicated in other places.