Temporal variation in the avifauna of a university campus in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil

Environmental changes caused by agriculture and urbanization are among significant causes of alterations in the Neotropical avifauna. Thus, community-level studies are useful for understanding biological responses to environmental impacts in order to propose effective mitigating actions. Therefore, this work evaluated the temporal changes in the avifauna of a university campus in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil (47°31’28”O, 23°34’53”S), during its implantation and after nine years. For this, we conducted transect surveys throughout the campus, considering data on bird richness, abundance and diversity, from July to December in 2007 and 2016. At this time scale, the richness were similar (χ2=0,17; gl=1; p=0,68), with 105 and 110 species, respectively; but the temporal variation in the species composition resulted from turnover (βsim=20%). The abundance decreased 10% between the years, from 3296 to 2951 individuals observed (χ2=19.05, gl=1, p0.05 for all groups, n = 5). Omnivorous and carnivorous birds maintained their abundances over time (p> 0.05), while granivorous birds increased 56% (χ2=105.43; gl=1; p<0.001). However, there was a temporal decline in the abundances of specialized trophic categories: nectarivores (χ2=63.08; gl=1; p<0.001) and insectivores (χ2=213.31; gl=1; p<0.001), with 57% and 48%, respectively. Therefore, the dynamics of temporal variation in avifauna abundances has occurred, mainly by trophic requirements, even in those generalists and regionally abundant species.