DEPREDACIÓN EN NIDOS ARTIFICIALES DE AVES EN UN GRADIENTE DE INTERVENCIÓN ANTRÓPICA EN LA AMAZONIA COLOMBIANA.

Natural forest´s covers are changing due to the spread of the urban, agricultural and livestock frontier, affecting the availability of shelters and resources for the breeding of birds. Despite our knowledge of the influence of anthropic interventions on biodiversity, investigations that show the anthropic effect on natural history of birds, included the breeding phase, are limited. To describe the anthropic effect on nest predation, 108 artificial nests were established in an anthropic intervention gradient in the jurisdiction of Leticia, Amazonas, Colombia. The 38 nests that were predated, six were in the site with the least anthropic intervention, 15 in the intermediate intervention site and 17 in the site with the highest intervention. In particular, the effect of changes in the vegetation cover mediated by anthropic disturbance on bird nests is assessed, expecting that denser vegetation cover around the nest will positively affect the nest success. Variables associated with the structure of the vegetation near the nests (e.g., Coverage around the nest, low vegetation cover, canopy opening), showed a significant positive relationship with the destination of the nest. This research suggests that the ongoing urbanization process (e.g., house construction and roads) in the Amazon region influences loss of artificial nests, and that changes in the structure of the vegetation mediated by the degradation of natural covers could play a fundamental role in the predation of nests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]